The Wise Man
by CrowV4
Summary: About a boy and his adventure in Remnant. Try and keep up.
1. A Grimm Beginning

The Grimm-lands, a murky desolate region containing nothing more than purple miasma, broken terrain and if it wasn't clear from its name…. Grimm. This description alone should make it understandable as to why it should be surprising to when, innocuously enough, a young boy lay there in the middle of the Grimmlands bruised but well enough. This was especially so considering the pack of Beo-wolve grimm surrounding him. His eyes fluttered, golden orbs twitching in reaction to the rays of light.

He sat up with a groan rubbing at his eyes adjusting himself to take in his surroundings…..to see the pack of beowolves staring straight at him. He rubbed his eyes again and rechecked….he then slapped himself "Agh"….to no avail. So he sat there cross-legged for a few moments in contemplation before he stood suddenly, gaining a slight fidget from the pack to his action. He walked rather calmly towards the beo-wolf who was near fully covered in bone plate armour, presumably the leader, and planting his face an inch away from the grimms maw, which thanks to his height only required him to be in front of it, and…..got licked. He straightened up blinking profusely as the beowolf panted…..in what could only be described as a playful manner?

Wiping the slobber off his face he looked up to the sky in confusion and muttered "Grimm huh?"

/_ /

It took a few shenanigans with the beowolves but the conclusion was finally made. They seemed to be harmless, at least in regards to him. The only act of aggression he was able to obtain was when he scratched at….lets say 'certain" sensitive areas of their bodies and even then it was more of a soft growl. Grimm have, strangely enough, really soft skin and what was weirder was how rubbery the white plating covering their body was. Like they had patches of condensed gum all over themselves, some of them had spikes and other symmetrical plating. They were practically human sized puppies, you know, if the puppies came from your worst nightmares but still didn't want to eat you.

Much like puppies, after the initial wary reaction it was practically a hug massacre. It took until the boy was choking under beowolf stomach for the alpha to call off the pack. The boy, now bedraggled, deadpanned at the alpha, "you know…. you could have done that a little sooner", he sighed as he realised that he was half expecting a response. The alpha merely nuzzled its head into his chest almost apologetically and a smile began to tug at the boy. "Okay…Okay, enough playing around", muttering with a soft chuckle, "so first things first", he spoke bringing his hands together, "Civilisation!...but where to look…", he peered to his left to see more wasteland and an almost identical image met him to his right. The scenery changed to his front where he viewed large jutting pieces of crystal…..surrounding a large broken moon…surrounded by an almost bloody sky. "Ah….", were the only words released by him as he did a complete 180 to be in full view of the only landmark that was in the Land of Darkness. A large, purple and menacing castle was in front of him and without an expression, word or shred of hesitation he started walking towards it.

/_ /

The stairs were more annoying than the journey. One reason being because of small stature he had, another was that after the alpha beowolf realised his intention it decided to lift him with its jaws and carry him in a comedical fashion all the way till the outer edge of the castle….where it seemed to hesitate. The boy reassured it scratching its head fondly as it nuzzled into him. Waving farewell was all the assurance he could give as he walked up the many purple steps

/_ /

Finally reaching the door encompassed by a large purple archway he stood in front of it for a while, looking thoughtfully to the entrance. Slowly reaching out his hand to rap at the door he muttered, "well Poincare, time for you to shine….", the double castle doors rattled loudly as they slowly parted, the knock he was about to make seemingly unnecessary as he retracted his hand while taking a smooth step back so as to avoid the opening doors he gazed at the one standing in front of him. Skin of a deathly pallor, red and purple veins that covered her skin and a black dress that hugged her hourglass figure.

The confusion visible in her blood red pupils did little to mask the foreboding presence she gave off. A heavy darkness, a cruel miasma, a heavy sense of foreboding, the boy felt all this and more, which is why his actions were strange. In the face of this presence this young boy of barely half her size, dirty and unkempt as well as not to mention surrounded by a literal wasteland scratched his shaggy white hair and with his other hand softly waved with a small smile "Hello".


	2. Dust Till Dawn V2

_Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, by-products, of a…" _"AChOO!" ***snff* **"Gah, I can almost feel the irony", these words, uttered by a half scowling lad at a counter weren't entirely unfounded. A half pseudo-allergic reaction to dust never paired well with an occupation that literally forced you to handle it. One would wonder why he had a job in a dust shop in the first place.

The bell tinkled, the entrance door opened…only to end up revealing a young girl in what one could only describe as a Goth Lolita getup, she hummed a cheery tune as she absentmindedly waved at the lad moving toward the magazine corner of the store. He made a small wave back in polite shopkeeper fashion.

Yes, one would wonder indeed.

The boy's scroll rung, he stared at it pensively, sighing he picked it up. He Inhaled… "Yo Ro', what's up, what's the call for, worried about the store again? Didn't the doc tell you to rest your heart. Is it about the new recruit? If so, don't even bother, he's already half as good as me, and yes that's a compliment, don't think otherwise. Worried about me cause it's my last week working for you? Worried you won't get anymore customers without my dashing looks behind the counter." He paused…., the other end was silent for a short moment, a shorter intake of breath was heard and then an aged voice began its own rant

"I didn't live this long to not know that your planning something brat" "I.." "Ababaappapap…. I don't care you rascal, you earnt my trust a while ago so I let you 'convince' me into resting at home this week, I wouldn't stop working at the shop just because of a little heart trouble, doctor be damned, bu", "Well I..", "BUT…I trusted you, look just make sure that the shop gets out in one piece because I know for damn sure that I don't need to worry about you. Take care kid, don't hesitate to call if you need me that's all I wanted to say"

*Brrrrr* the line got cut.

The teen had a twitch in his brow 'Then why call at all you damned geezer, tch can't get a word in edge ways when he starts speaking', and no, the irony was not lost on him.

He sighed again, there wasn't much use getting annoyed, as much as the guy's eccentricities managed to bug him there was no doubt to the respect that he had for the old man. His knack for spotting out anything remotely suspicious was one of the many reasons that the boy managed to end up working for him in the first place.

*Tinkle* went the bell as a group of suited men shuffled into the store, led by a lavishly dressed bowler hat gentleman toting a cigar.

"Well here we go…", he muttered glancing at the clock, "The window installer should be here soon, better make this fast"

/_ /

**Goon**

The job, as our type of 'jobs' go, was meant to be simple.

Go into shop.

Look intimidating.

Steal from said shop.

Have little to no guilt because of premium insurance policies.

It looked like a simple job too, except for the part where we were hired to follow Mr. Up and Coming himself, Master Thief sensation, Top Ten in Remnant Most Fashiona… Torchwick, we were led by Roman Torchwick. God knows why he was leading a raid on a small time dust shop but in our line of work questions rarely came with answers….well answers in any form that weren't a bullet sized hole in the face.

I digress.

Back to the job, I knew the dust shop personally, run by an old timer who just didn't seem to understand the concept of retirement. But you know as they say 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth', so we enter the shop and the first sign to leave immediately came in the form of someone other than an old man running the counter. A young man, no more than 18 at the most. He had a cap on that was wide enough to cover most of his face as he had his nose deep in an issue of 'Remnants Insider'.

His feet were propped onto the counter as he read on a plastic stool.

I mean the kid didn't even look up when we came in, It wasn't exactly the greatest treatment of customers, but hey who am I to judge right? Anyway, we couldn't even see his face at the time, but the guy seemed to ooze familiarity, I was a little concerned up until our resident Flamboyant ala Thief Hirer decided to speak up.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?"

And the boy snickered…. can you even imagine that, sure it sounds cliché in hindsight but can you imagine being in front of 4 hired thugs and a semi-famous criminal and snickering?

So we're all thinking that the situation is rather odd, meanwhile the kid lowers the magazine a bit, leans forward and hits a button underneath the desk. We all stand on edge for a moment thinking he hit a silent alarm when the glass to the dust crystals slowly lower themselves and he once again against all expectations jerks his thumb towards the dust pipes to the side as he goes back to reading his magazine.

Yeah, a little odd indeed, Roman shrugs and signals to the new guys to go fill up the cannisters, then he looks to me and this other guy…ummm….Barry, yeah that was it the guy was Barry and he pauses as he looks at us cause we were frozen stiff.

See, we both realised who was behind the counter.

"Anything wrong muscle brains? I'm not exactly paying for you to be standing around, please be a couple of dears and do something that merits hiring you", and I'm about to tell him to shove it six ways sideways in order to explain to him what kind of fucked up we got ourselves into until I feel a chill run down my spine. Kid behind the counter has one eye glaring at me, I'm lucky enough not to soil myself with the amount of pressure he gave off, so I decided to choose my words rather carefully.

"Uhh, no boss, sorry", I grip Barry's shoulder and lead him away as the kid gives me a tiny nod and goes back to reading his stupid magazine. Me and Barry release the breath we didn't know we were holding.

I catch my breath in the corner while Barry being the good little goon he is notices a customer still in the shop, a small girl in a black dress too distracted by her own magazine to understand that the shop was being raided. I only hoped that the rest of the job went smoothly and we got out of the shop as quickly as possible.

This thought lasted up until I heard the girl ask "Are you robbing me?"

/_ /

**I'll Improve, Bear with the Grammar and Half-Baked Story-Telling for a Little Longer**


	3. Dust Till Dawn Outside

Roman was busy eyeing a red dust crystal as Barry got kicked into a stack of cans near the front window.

His wife would nag him about the bruises.

Henry promptly got kicked outside shattering the left window on his way.

I would nag him about the cost of repairs.

As aura-less as they were the goons were rather sturdy, a testament to junior's hiring requirements. Not to mention that Ruby was pulling her punches.

"Gua!", went Goon 3 as he got caught between the butt end of a mechanical scythe and the concrete.

Well…they were sturdy.

On the bright side it'll weed out the weaklings from Junior's ensemble, that's got to be worth a few bone fractures, right?

* * *

One cane shot and ladder climb later I'm on the street wondering if the goons would mind waking up in a trash container.

Fortunately, Barry and Henry managed to pick themselves up rather quickly. It really made you think of what kind of training regimen they went through. Regardless it made for an easy solution to clean up any signs of the gang. I trusted them to skedaddle with their buddies before the law enforcement decided to rear their head so all that was left was the property damage….

"Why don't you ever call for something simple? Like a blown pipe? Or a fallen roof tile? You know how tiring it is replacing the equivalent of a skyscraper in a matter of a few weeks?"

"I wouldn't imagine it being very tiring when its literally what you specialise in, and what I hired you for…..and what the company you work for adverti…"

"That's besides the POINT. ITS ABOUT THE PRINC…mmf", "Look Ash I'm running on a bit of a tight schedule and although I'd love to play: 'Reasons on remnant why to find me intolerable', Trademark Pending… here are the keys to the store, finish up here, lock up the shop, throw the keys behind that bush and I promise that I'll pay you back for being 'inconvenient'…..somehow", in one smooth motion I took my hand away from her mouth, threw her the keys and ruffled her hair….so I'm a fan of theatrics, sue me.

It was a moment before she was left standing in the middle of the street alone.

"He better not be lying…", she grumbled the stamping of her feet pronouncing her frustration, the tint in her cheeks told another story.

***PWoOm* Pwah***

Explosions rang out in a way that could only be translated to her as 'more work'. A sigh broke out 'Well he did at least pay properly this time….'

***Ptah* PouKH***

"eughhh"

/_ /

* * *

***PWAHh* **For the record, blocking a combustible dust crystal explosion? Totally manageable.

Doing it at the last second while trying to keep your hoodie from shredding itself into a thousand tiny bits. A little bit more annoying.

"Could you not have at least kicked it away?", I'm half sure I mumbled that to the girl behind me, I was half sure she heard me, I was slightly less sure if she was about to reply. I didn't stay in front of her long enough to give her the chance.

There were two reasons for this:

Number 1 being that there was no answer she could give that would justify my Pumpkin Pete hoody getting torn, sure you could argue that I have like two others, but that's beside the point, as Ash would put it. "It's about the Princi….Mfph", Hehe.

Number 2 required me to retreat pretty quickly, the battle between G and Ash 2.0 wouldn't last long, and unlike my midget friend I didn't want to see Goodwitch turning into Angrywitch.

I pitied the roof they were on for all the craters that were left, thing is it could've been worse. I don't even think that the two were even going all-out. Props to the Vale Construction companies though, their buildings at least didn't collapse even after having pretty much a quarter of the infrastructure being obliterated.

***shouh* **the air shifted, always a bad sign…. or at the very least an annoyance. In this case it came in the form of a cane wielding headmaster watching from the rooftops a few blocks away. Did he just…nod at me? Pretentious bastard, he'll pay for that one…. probably sneak some salt cubes into his morning cup….and no the irony was, once again, not lost on the lad who called another 'pretentious'. In fact, the same boy immediately sat down and pulled out a palm card from 'somewhere' inside his hoody pockets. 'Where did I put the pen….'

/_ /

* * *

He nodded at the battle before him…a habit he would need to get rid of soon, too ingrained in him from overseeing matches within the academy. He took another mechanical sip out of his thermos, the monstrous blend of caffeine and sugar infusing itself in his body like water to a man in the middle of Vacuo.

He sighed at the damages made to the buildings, something the council would certainly bug him on, still…nothing unusual. He took another sip.

The headmaster of beacon would not without good reasoning be out wandering the city on the rooftops like a comic book vigilante. Not usually at least, in this instance the reasoning came from an unknown informant.

Ozpin's brow furrowed as he recalled how the 'tip' came to his attention.

/_ /

* * *

***Cooh* *Cooh*** Ozpin slightly clenched his jaw as the familiar sight of a carrier pigeon perched itself on his head. He briefly contemplated turning the bird into a curdled meat-paste…..then again blood stains were a hassle to wash off, and it was with that thought that the pigeon flew off leaving another equally familiar rolled parchment on his head.

_Dear Troubled Headmaster,_

_Hello, it's me again sending you this friendly little letter to inform you of your imminent demise. If you're curious about the frequency of which I've sent these letters, it is merely to instill as much fear as I can. As if basting a turkey. Which I will then proceed to have sex with._

_That's right._

_I'm going to F*cK the fear turkey. Come to the Dust Till Dawn Shop at 7pm Tonight_

_Sincerely, Remnant's Finest_

/_ /

* * *

Ozpin was shaken out of his thoughts as his senses kicked in, warning him of 'something'…. something glinted in the distance. 'Sniper?'.

An brightly lit ball flew through the night towards him.

Ozpin took another sip.

The ball was about to hit….then it suddenly struggled at reaching distance

It struggled to move forward burning the air in front of it in a kinetic struggle, slowing ever so quickly, eventually halting inches away from his thermos.

A palm card shrouded in a golden aura. Wind rushed past ruffling his scarf.

He swiped the card from the air, glancing over it, his eyes narrowed in thought before his figure vanished.

_Dear Fear Turkey_

_Glad you could make it, get the girl a plate of cookies and a ticket to beacon. We'll see you soon_

/_ /

**Almost There…**

**Well done if you got the Hell-sling reference, lazy writing I know, don't worry it gets better…. Hopefully.**


	4. First Step in Beacon

"We made it Ren, OHHHH look at this chair, it . is . so . COMFY, not as comfy as you obviously but still comfy as it can be, not that I'm saying weird things like I like you more than the chair, I like you but I don't like you, like you. Do you think Beacon has COMFIER CHAIRS?"

"Nora.."

"mhm?"

"I think they're called couches"

"…THOSE ARE EVEN MORE COMFY, which MEANS…***Sniff* **Syrup?", "Syrup?", Nora didn't respond, to busy sniffing the air for more of the familiar scent. She spun around, looking frantically around the airship.

A boy wearing a hoodie stray white hairs visible even with the hood on, turned away from her.

She was in a light state of shock as she pushed herself through the crowd of applicants reaching for his shoulder. He turned.

"Can I help you?", No… his skin was a shade dark, and those eyes….they weren't nearly deep enough. "Sorry", she gave an awkward chuckle, "Nora?...what happen…Oh", Ren halted as he looked at the boy in realisation.

Nora was the type who had a single expression plastered on throughout her entire life, so it was often difficult to find any emotional sign other than exuberance from her.

Ren noticed. A slightly lowered gaze, a smile that was a tad forced.

She looked up at him when he grasped her hands, "we'll see him again, he promised after all didn't he?", it was equally rare to see Ren smiling, which is why it only took a gaze from the pink-haired air-head to bring her back to full force.

"RIGHT Ren! very soon, because that's a promise, and friends don't break promises, except when sloths are involved but that's not their…

Ren bid a farewell to the slightly confused boy before accompanying Nora back to the 'Chairs'. It was a shame though, had they stuck around a few moments more they would've seen the crowd part just enough too see a familiar figure tinkering with a scroll on the floor.

/_ /

To put something else on the record, changing a scroll enough for it to be encrypted through all communication channels was practically a breeze, even with the toothpick thin tools and precision needed to adjust the circuit boards inside. At least it was a breeze when compared to trying to argue with a scientist whose ego is too big to fit entirely on a peta-byte hard drive.

**: What do you mean your having issues with the schematics, I legitimately made step by step drawings on how and why to have the framework placed.

**: Doubts? You're Having DOUBTS? That's bullshit and you know it. I practically resurrected this project singlehandedly and your trying to tell me that there's even a hint of distrust on how we're proceeding?

**: Forget it, it doesn't matter anymore, I don't care what Atlesian commander decided to get a god-complex and start lording over you. You'll be finished by the festival, make sure she gets to Vale in One Piece, I'm trusting you with this, don't make me come there personally to solve whatever shitty excuse you have for turning towards betraying the promise you made.

**: Another thin ***Ztzttssss***…. well shit.

Note to self: Using a Device while making experimental adjustments is a bad idea.

In all honesty I've made that note more than once…..at least it didn't explode this time.

Finding myself on a bullhead with all the other applicants was never my preferred method of getting to beacon, but the most of the other options included trekking dozens of kilometres through the emerald forest which was to say at a minimum…slightly less preferable.

Still there were of course benefits of being here, one of which came in the form of a stumbling nauseous blonde who was about to lose his breakfast to the bullhead floor. Solved by sliding over a portable trash can over him, specially designed to keep contents within from stanching up the room.

Ah the marvel of D-Bay, if only your delivery service was half as convenient.

He wasn't able to glance at his saviour as his stomach decided that it needed saving

Almost to beacon…

"Ew Yang Gross, You have Puke on your shoe", "Gross, gross, gross, gross"

Ah…. guess I was a little late…. "Vomit boy" is just gonna have to stick…

/_ /

"Ruby, come on, why don't you try and go make some friends of your own?"

"But…Why would I need friends when I have you?"

Yang smothered a chuckle, as cute as her sister was when she was socially awkward, she couldn't stay that way forever.

"I won't always be here, you know that Rubes… right?", It was almost subconscious in how my hand managed to be petting her head.

"I know… but...", said the nervous short-stack while half nuzzling into the hand.

Scratch that, she was extremely cute, and it would get even better as soon as she realised that she was being pet.

"Wait, HEY YANG, Agh!", and there it was.

On second thought, maybe she can stay awkward…just for a little bit.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this", I took in the entirety that was Beacon, like a castle that you would see in picture….books….

White hair.

Golden Eyes.

I did a retake, it was far in the distance, his figure barely visible underneath a thick oak tree but…. was that…?

"Yang? Hey! Yang! Where are you going?"

"No Time to talk Rubes we'll meet at the ceremony, Go FIND A FRIEND", I probably didn't help her much by shouting that, but I was slightly preoccupied sprinting towards the tree.

Was that him?

/_ /

It was simple enough, right up until Ruby, a huntress that could singlehandedly take on dozens of Grimm managed to trip on a wedge and fall "gracefully" on top of…you guessed it….an assortment of suitcases.

Some may call it 'Fate', 'Destiny', "Bullshit…", muttered by the boy watching from afar, it wasn't a favourable situation, especially when the suitcases were practically rigged to evaporate everything in a ten-meter radius.

An unmanned trolley of bags, a lone daughter of a major corporation and a perfect academy to put under wide media backlash. Terrorists would have a field day.

I wanted to shout at her for practically setting up a death flag, but that would take time. Time…

_In the distance a small cloud of red dust was covering the two huntresses._

That I don't have…

/_ /

"What do you have to say for yourse… ***Ahhc…***

It both came to them in that moment, no matter how untrained, hunters still had a survival instinct like no other. Weiss's eyes widened as she tried to back away from the dust cloud.

Ruby was incapacitated by an oncoming sneeze.

A suitcase sparked igniting the cloud, time slowed.

***POUUUGHHH***

A flash of blinding light. A loud explosion

It was a few seconds before the two girls were visible again.

Ruby with a newly acquired handkerchief.

Weiss with a newly acquired layer of soot.

The ground with a newly acquired crater.

"Unbelievable!", said the soot covered snowflake, still not fully processing what could've occurred.

/_ /

"uNBelieVaBle!", snarked the boy who found his second favourite pumpkin Pete hoody to be charred to a crisp, the issue with getting some dust types interacting with each other?

Instantaneous Combustion.

Ergo-massive explosion,

Ergo-Another Ruined Hoody

The damage would've at least obliterated that section of the walkway…that is if all the suitcases ignited. No, par one, they were all fine sitting snug right next to the crater, albeit in disarray. Where was the offending suitcase?

He dumped the charred rectangle and the now "well-cooked piece of cloth" inside a nearby bin.

It doesn't matter anymore.

"Better a burnt hoody than burnt lungs…", he watched as the shrimp looked at the handkerchief in confusion.

He left, heading towards the Hall.

Hands in his pockets, lightly rustling hair, and a final line.

"This is where it all starts"

…

""Pfff"", a chorus of giggling broke out,

"He was trying to look cool- ", one of the offenders choked out mid-giggle,

"A complete dork-", the other replied chuckling just as hard.

"He was probably monologuing in his head-", the giggles only grew from that.

"Melanie? Miltia?... What?"


	5. RWBY Yellow V2

"_Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgement"_

"A new book of yours?", Junior asked this to the boy while wiping the table.

"Hmm? Oh, no no, heh.. I'm… actually surprised you haven't heard this before. I mean it has a lot to do with this club"

"Do tell", "Hmmmm…Nah", Junior rolled his eyes, and went back to tidying the bar.

To any random mook who knew Junior the situation would odd, Junior didn't usually initiate idle talk with a customer and when he did, it meant business. Junior had a short fuse, inherited via his papa King, sure it got better over recent years but…it wasn't odd to hear someone getting into an accident after slighting him.

"Another!", the boy raised his mug with a lopsided grin

"You don't have to do that you know…. it's a bar you just…signal for it",

"You just lack a sense of adventure Hei! -"

He giggled from that remark "Hei…Hey Hei Hey Hei-", the boy chuckled at the poor joke as if on a drunken stupor.

Junior sighed while taking out the special bottle in mechanical fashion. Filling the mug up in fancy bartender fashion wasn't hard, or especially fancy, but the boy clapped in glee anyway.

Junior gave a tiny smile, he still remembered the many bottles he broke to master it and honestly, there weren't many customers who appreciated the artform, especially when the concept of hunters existed, then again… he wasn't exactly your average customer….

The boy retracted the mug and like the other…. three instances that night, chugged the 400ml of fluid in a few seconds.

"Ah, Junior me old companion, have I ever told you how thankful I am that you finally got the good….", He shrunk his eyes "stuff? Yeah… stuff".

Junior scoffed, "Yeah? It better be, you know how much trouble I had to go through with that slave driver to get a direct supply?"

The boy giggled, "Yeah she's a handful that's for sure", he attempted to take another sip only to find himself peering into the mug, scowling at the lack of drink.

Junior was about to pour him another before he waved him down and rested his head in his arms,

"No it's fine, I've had too much anyway….wait….isn't it your job to cut people off when they've had too much?" They boy raised himself to stare wide eyed at the bartender, "You trying to kill me or something Junior?"

Junior held the bottle up, "Usually…. you'd have a point", swirled the visible white liquid around "'except I've never heard of someone dying of a milk overdose"

"Tch", the boy slumped back down mumbling into his arms, "Knows nothing…..Milk can be dangerous…Old Geezer…Zzzzz"

Junior's eye twitched, then he sighed and put the final glass on the pile.

The kid was an oddball, that was under no dispute, it was clear when he demanded payment in the form of free milk whenever he wanted.

But he was easy to manage, at least in comparison to another pair he kept close to the heart.

"You're still drinking this stuff?" a silky voice with uncharacteristic snark came into earshot.

"You're still wearing that thing?", he shot back, immediately coming out of his supposed slumber.

"Come now, are you telling me you don't like it", from the opposite side a similar sultrier voice floated in, with it a body pressed up against his side.

He narrowed his eyes, raised his hand,***Ptack***, "Agh", she clutched her forehead.

"That's what you get-", the red vixen said in a fit of giggles ***Ptack* "**Agh"

It was the white temptress's turn "Hah, stupid" she smiled in glee.

"Bimbo", she shot back

"Skank!"

"Bitch!"

"Rapist", this gave them both pause as they turned to the boy caught in the middle.

"" What?"", He pointed…well he motioned with his head towards the direction of the table, sure enough the red axe symbol engraved on the side of the table was glowing.

It was a marvel of engineering to be sure, Junior installed them earlier thanks to the nagging of the kid, cost a pretty lien too, that is it would've if the company didn't practically hand them to him. Sometimes he wondered how influential the kid really was.

Junior still didn't really understand it, kid tried to explain it to him once, something about a combination of molecules interacting with the material and glasses that, based on slight tints they give in reaction to a few drugs, send a light wave to the table they're on causing the symbol to light up.

Few knew about them, allowing the club to deal with the less "appealing" criminals. Even Junior had lines that he would never cross, especially after practically bringing up the girls.

Anyway, the girls detached themselves from the kid's arms and stalked towards their new, more unfortunate victim.

"My men would've handled it you know…",

"Yeah, but I wanted to breathe….",

Junior smiled, the girls were a nightmare to contain to be sure, even more so when something piqued their interest. The kid managed to deal with it well enough.

It was many an occasion that Junior pondered about pairing one of them to the young man, maybe both? It wouldn't take much effort after all.

The musings of every would-be father he supposed.

"Snowman Candlestick…", the kid's voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

"Hm?", the kid jerked his thumb towards the entrance and slumped back to a sleeping position.

He yawned, "Aughh…A word of advice Hei…don't piss off the blondi…zzZzz",

Junior rolled his eyes, he still hadn't figured out how he fell asleep so fast….still…Roman Torchwick. Business as usual…. "Junior! How Good to see youuu",

Yep…as usual…

/_ /

Melanie watched as the blonde blur ,accelerated to her limit, came rushing in, her instinct screamed at her to dodge, her motor functions didn't respond.

The yellow gauntlet rushed towards her.

A rush of air blew past.

Yang mid-punch was halted. Fist clenched by…..apparently one of juniors thugs, including standard suit, fedora and glasses.

Yang tried to retract her hand, for it only to not be able to move an inch. "Agh, Grrr LET GO!"

She brought her other fist rushing towards the young man's face. Just as it was about to make contact ***Swhoo* **the fist hit air.

He blurred out for a moment before his face reappeared a few millimetres in front of her, a small smile plastered on. She quickly shuffled back, readjusting his hat he decided that it was a good time for a diplomatic approach.

"Look blondie, I don't exactly want to fight, you've already sort of destroyed the club….and I'm not sure insurance is going to cut it this time…", he gestured to the mess that was the club, shattered floor, pillars and goons in all their glory.

Still blitzed with streaks of anger she shouted, "They attacked me!"

"Yeah? That's usually what happens when you threaten their boss by the Testicles!"

Her eyes turned back lilac quickly as she scratched her head in an awkward chuckle. "Yeah I guess I did huh…Hah ha…"

"Hah", he deadpanned. "How about you just leave now and we'll call it even...sort of.

"What!?", Miltia from behind decided to finally make herself known again, "You're just going to let her get away with this?"

"The Skank Trashed our Home! The Least…-"HEY, Who're You Calling Skan…

"ENOUGH!"

The club fell silent, Junior only now beginning to pick himself up from being suckered.

"Miltia, can you beat her?", he stared at the stubborn girl

"What do you mean! We just...", "Can YOU beat her!", he reaffirmed staring her down.

Green met Gold then looked away reluctantly, he sighed, his eyes softening.

"Go fix yourself up, and help your sister…", he added in a quiet tone.

"What! I'm Fin..AGh", she reeled from a hand pressing into her chest", "Your ribs are fractured, Go"

She huffed, biting down any comment she had and went towards her elder sibling.

"You as well, out of this club, any longer and the whole thing will deteriorate into an annoyance"

Yang sighed, retracting her gauntlets, "I guess…. for what it's worth sorry about the club….and your boss…and your friends?"

I waved her off, "Nah it's cool, physical damage can be repaired…. even if it's in the form of internal bleeding…usually"

…

"Sooooo…I'll be taking my leave now…", making an awkward chuckle and a wave she turned to walk towards the club entrance, and shuffled out…rather quickly.

Where she left a yawning teen bumbled in, "Hey, ***Augh* **I'm the fixer that you ca…..lled", he ended a bit wide eyed at the damage, he sighed "another one of those…"

An arm snaked around his neck, "Agh", he yelped as his head got a noogie.

"Hey, lil man, funny to see you here, you don't even call nowadays"

"I Called Last Week!", "Ah it feels like forever"

"Agh, stop that, that she-devil set me up!", suffice to say it lasted for a few more moments.

"Every time man...", you could almost see the pout on the jet-black headed teen as he attempted to straightened rustled hair.

"Hmmm….", I stared at him for a moment, he looked a bit unnerved, "What? Something on my hair or something…?"

"Nah, don't worry about it", ignoring his grumbling I continued with the larger issue, pushing him from behind, "chop, chop, I did actually hire you know, you're a bit late so that means you do extra work right?"

"What? Where does it say that?",

"Somewhere in the fine print, it doesn't matter, you were late"  
"I wasn't late! I was just waiting for the booming to stop…you know I'm good in fights…"

"Hoh? Alright then…you don't have to do extra."

His face brightened quickly.

"We'll just spar afterwards to get you into combat form", I gave off a wicked grin.

His face paled even faster.

"You know what? Extra work sounds great! How about I go ahead and repair this whole block, in fact I'll even refurnish the place, oh but that would take till the end of the day, damn sorry boss, look like we can't…", frantically conversing as he increased the gap between us he eventually got to the opposite side of the club, where he started shifting and reattaching the pillars.

I shook my head, "Damn young'un's, you would think they would be up for a brawl…hormones and what not"

"You know you're not exactly a fully-fledged adult yourself…stop speaking so strangely",

"No, I suppose not, wouldn't want to take that away from you 'bOsS'

"Do you want to keep the suit?"

"Sorry Boss, Won't happen again I swear Boss", I stated at a 90* angle

He sighed, I took that as his acknowledgment, "So, Junior, making a move on a defenceless underage girl? Didn't think you had it in you, you know moral integrity and all that"

This elicited a groan from the aged man, "It was a bad spirit…", he pinched his brow, "It was as if I had full control, but still went out of my way to be a complete moron."

"Seems it didn't affect much…", I stepped back as a fist flew through. I raised my hands in surrender to a glaring Junior, eliciting another sigh…but it ended his glare, Success!

Something glinted and caught my eye, "Hmm?", going over and grabbing it revealed it to be a scroll, an almost reflexive tampering of it to unlock it revealed an interesting figure.

"Ebony Bird…", "You know her?", "In a way…",

"The blondie wanted to know about her",

"I no longer know about her"

"WHAT!?", we both turn to see a fiery blond.

In hindsight I should've expected it, scrolls are a teenager's essence and it being here meant she was bound to return sooner or later.

I looked over at the kid fixing up the pillars and signalled him to hide.

Looks like Jet's work will have to wait…

"Sorry Junior…." I muttered, "About?", Junior tensed in preparation for Yang.

"Your Bank Account"

/_ /

***Tinkle*** The chains, while not cumbersome, really made you feel restricted, about a 50 cm wide area where I could freely move. "Do you understand?"

My head whipped up, I really did need to get rid of that tendency to get lost in thought, multitasking was never truly efficient. "Yep, good for me, good for you, good for us", I went back to fiddling with the chains as the cop gave me a hard stare.

"I'm serious kid, this'll only become more difficult the more you hold out on us, I can't protect you if you don't cooperate, I'm giving you an easy exit."

"ye*P*",

He sighed, "I've seen a lot of kids like you before you know…they all end up the same way, they're lives wasted away in a dark crummy cell"

A soft smile was all he got in response.

The man sighed, raising himself, "Well, I tried, I hope you don't regret this kid"

He walked to the door and had one last look to see if the boy would crack.

Still a smile.

The guard left. The door closed.

It was a few moments before the sound of a cane tapping against the floor came within earshot.

The boy's smile widened as he slid a letter onto the table.

/_ /

Ozpin neared the interrogation room, the second he had to visit in that day, cumbersome might describe it, but a potential student, especially one that matched up with a promising signal graduate was something to be welcomed.

Not to say the situation wasn't odd, usually the Vale department would be more of a hassle to give leniency to a huntress, especially one who committed un-authorised damaged on private albeit shady property. It seemed the commissioner called ahead to be of service there, not to mention the fact that Hei Xiong decided to not press any charges..

Yes, truly odd.

Loud quick thuds made themselves heard through the department. His spine tingled.

Someone was approaching quickly.

It soon revealed itself in the form of a blonde-haired female.

"Ozpin?"

"Commissioner?"

"Hm? Oh…. yeah…it is weird for me to be here huh?", she chuckled, "It's just I know the person inside he's…. of a certain importance to me."

"Your brother?"

"Jaune?!, What! Have You Seen Him?"

She gripped the headmaster's shoulder with a wide-eyed expression.

"I suppose that signifies a 'No'", she blushed and quickly retracted herself from him with an awkward step.

"Ah, sorry about that…no it isn't my little brother, thought if it was…", Her knuckles cracked loudly. The air chilled.

Ozpin kept a poker smile,

"Anyway, what brings you to our humble police station, you wouldn't expect the headmaster of our prestigious beacon academy to grace us with his presence"

"Nor would I the commissioner to a small station this far from Vale Headquarters…"

She gave a smile, "I was called actually."

"Hm?"

"Well… I'll fill you in after…but I think you'll understand if you meet him.

With that she moved to open the door, a key card swiped, she took half a step in the room before freezing. Ozpin peered from behind perplexed as to her hesitation.

Her eyes narrowed, "Guard!", an officer stationed nearby straightened up "Sir!",

"Where's the surveillance room in this building?", with the guard's instructions she gave a brief farewell to Ozpin and ran off, barely a second passed before she was out of sight.

Ozpin took a sip out of his mug and peered into the room.

A quick aura flux ruled out anyone hiding within the room, he stepped inside. An examination proved there was someone here recently, the chair twisted at an angle, the cuffs broken at the screws, an oddity due to its aura suppressive nature, and a letter.

_**Dear Perplexed Headmaster**_

"Ah…", the puzzle was starting to take shape.

_**You'll be pleased to find that I have no intention of pressing charges against your precious student, but I have every intention of pressing the button for the charges in that room"**_

***Beep***

The headmaster paused, he looked underneath the table to find an digital alarm haphazardly duct taped to the underside labelled "prank".

Another oddity, especially considering he hadn't noticed it.

_**Just kidding, obviously. What would be the point of blowing up my new headmaster, amiright? I do apologise for not being here though, I'm not really avoiding you as I am the ADHD induced commissioner, she and I have a…. let's say history that I'd rather not go into detail about, needed her to get your student off the hook, your welcome. ;P. Her brother is going to your Academy, not that it's any news to you.**_

_**Anyway…. I'll see you soon. Maybe? … probably not. Might be a bit hard to find me. Good luck.**_

_**Sincerely, Remnants Ruggedest **_

_**P.S: Expect carrier pigeons, like…a lot of carrier pigeons.**_

Ozpin took another sip.

"Carrier pigeons?"

**/_ /**

**Been a while, if your displeased with the writing then please rage at me with a review, I always would appreciate to see my own faults. *cough* not that I have any *cough***


	6. RWBY Black V2

Adam's heart clenched.

"Goodbye", a forlorn look dashed her face as Blake cut the car cabling.

He attempted to shout for the words to only choke his throat, ending in a guttural growl. A storm of emotions roiled inside, anger in particular.

He did everything, right didn't he? All recent white fang incursions were dealt with minimal casualties, dozens of humans spared because he decided to follow her word.

All for what.

Betrayal.

He pumped aura into his legs, pure rage radiated in the air around him blurring his figure in a red mist. He leapt towards the traitor.

His love

***Aergh* **a hand clenched the back of his collar at the final moment, he lost balance and fell back on the train carriage.

"Easy there T", Golden eyes stared at him.

"**HAA", **he leapt up, slashing at the white-haired annoyance.

"YOU LET HER GET AWAY"

"Yep", he stood as the blade rapidly approached for his neck.

It slashed met with no resistance.

The boy still stood with slightly narrowed eyes, Adam's rage still bubbled.

He slashed again, then again and again, each time the boy who was about to be slashed was spared by the blade by a scant centimetre.

"Adam that's enough", Adams rage still boiled.

He kept striking, slashing, shooting, anything, anything so long as to vent the emotions he was feeling, anything to help the inner strife plaguing his mind, 'It'll get better if I do this', he thought in the hue of emotions.

"**HAAAAAA", **sped up by aura he turned into a blur, the very air being cut apart as he fought against the boy. The boy blurred along side him as the blade whistled passed his vitals.

"Adam she's not coming back!", this only fuelled his rage as Adam encompassed himself in aura, the red shroud igniting the air around him.

He seemed to disappear in that instant.

The boy sighed.

**/_ /**

* * *

Getting stabbed was never a pleasant sensation.

Still…worse things could've happened.

For one the stabber could show no remorse for his victim, Adam seemed frozen with the blade stuck directly underneath my sternum.

A good sign.

"She isn't coming back", I put a hand on his shoulder the shudder started there.

It started to wrack his body, tears started falling out of the Grimm mask. His sword was released.

Tears?

"You're crying?"

His shudders lessened as he looked at me in confusion.

"You don't get to cry…" I cocked my fist back "crying is meant for people who couldn't control their own fate", I launched a punch at his face, his reactions were slowed, a sharp crack sounded out as the Grimm mask was broken off his face and he fell back a metre back into the entrance inside the train car.

I snatched the mask from the air, "and you've been in complete control this entire time".

The sword stuck inside me reverberated with the impact.

It was definitely starting to be a nuisance, still, it was good for a temporary bandage, and I'd rather not break the sword that I'd be forced to remake.

Jumping down into the carriage I was met with a sullen Adam lain across a crate, an unblemished face stained with prominent dark circles around his eyes, his face wet with tears.

I left the damaged mask on his chest.

"Help me look around after you finish moping, we still have a mission to do."

**/_ /**

* * *

The dust reserves in the train were plentiful, all the standard types could be found neatly assorted in the crates. Made me slightly curious at the blast potential if I ignited one.

Slightly.

Saner minds won over though.

I noted down the estimations of the stockpile, a couple tons of dust would be a rough estimate if you included the other carriages, the robots also need to be dealt with….Atlas…or the SDC rather sure was annoying when it came to safeguarding their stockpile. Not bothering to hire hunters for the cargo and instead leaving their androids fully functioning to keep out any intruders.

The Spider droid by itself would've destroyed a few carriages if Adam didn't take it down. Its code needed 'excessive force' to be removed as a feature, not to mention the other dozen prototypes still left.

I sighed.

"Are you planning on removing that?"

I turned to a mostly recollected Adam, his cracked Grimm mask once again adorned.

"Finally decided to stop brooding?"

…

I rolled my eyes, if only he was this stale with his outbursts. "If you want it back then take it"

I could almost feel his eyebrow raise, "Will that not injure you further?"

"If you knew that then why'd you ask in the first place"

He bristled.

I sighed, I couldn't fault him for his concern, as strangely as he displayed it.

"Alright grab the handle", he obliged gripping it with both hands.

"Quick as you can, in a straight line"

The sword slid out in a flash leaving the faunus to stare at the blade.

…

"There's no blood..."

I spat a glob of blood to the side.

"Yeah there was, it was just internal, you have shitty aim you know? Pretty much went straight past my vitals."

"Maybe it was on purpose", he said gruffly.

I glanced at him, a joke this soon after the supposed 'betrayal'?

Bad sign.

"Alright now that you're lively again let's talk about the cat who left the room."

He snapped his arms towards Wilt.

I stared at him…and he gradually forced himself to untense.

"Blake is going on her own journey for a while, so we're going to leave her alon

"She Betrayed the White Fang!"

"Bullshit, you don't care about that, you care that she betrayed you."

His teeth clenched, he stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of my shirt.

"She abandoned a mission that was serving the faunus.", he growled. I slammed my face into the mask, finally shattering it. He stumbled back.

"AND WHO'S FAULT WAS THAT?"

I pressed forward poking into his chest.

"Who was the start of the missions that led to hundreds of deaths, faunus and human alike?"

"Who allowed it go unchecked to the point where even civilians were slaughtered?"

"Who was planning to plant dust charges on a train filled with fucking workers?"

"They would have been unharm

"You DUMBASS!", we both knew this, as I designed the charges with a limited impact in mind, the androids were the only targets in order to harm the military force of the SDC.

Thing is…

"DID BLAKE KNOW THAT?"

"She…

"NO, SHE DIDN'T, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER TIME SHE GOES ON ONE OF THESE ADVENTURES WITH YOU, THERE'S NO COMMUNICATION. JUST 'trust me Blake', OR 'don't be a traitor like your father Blake."

A fist impacted into my face, the force throwing me to a crate.

I leapt up.

"You were one of the only people who she cared about in the New Fang, and you kept brushing her off whenever it came to these missions."

I stepped towards him, he swung at me, it was sloppy. Ducking overhead I gutted him in the stomach.

He groaned.

"Do you know who she did get info from? Who didn't brush her away? Our White Fang 'Brothers and Sisters' who took joy in the fact that humans were being put to the slaughter."

"After she thought you would kill even more in the name of the faunus, can you blame her? Even after all that's happened and all the crap that you put her through?"

There was a standstill for a moment, Adam emotions fluctuating, fists clenched.

"I didn't mean to…

"Of course, you didn't, and there's my problem", with a sigh I went to unlock the doors to the next carriage.

"You tried to be better, for Blake, if not your own moral compass…then again I guess I helped there as well.", I could _feel _him furrowing his eyebrows. "Yeah sorry, this isn't about me"

"Like I said Blake didn't see you changing, she still sees the Adam who supposedly slaughtered people without a shred of remorse."

Adam narrowed his eyes…remorse, he still had nightmares about the people that he took down…most of them were aura less company men who defended their facilities with an aim to kill them, he did what he had to do to survive and protect his squad.

That thought didn't help the Insomnia.

It was the one of the reasons he wore the mask, nobody needed a leader who had that was weak, he still berated himself over this.

He spoke, "Then we'll get her back, show her…

"No we won't"

"What?"

***Beep* **"Nice… I said we won't", we started walking into the other carriage.

"Why!", he snarled.

I stopped him from walking, "Because, you petulant child, the reasons she left weren't entirely wrong, and she'll be better off away from the Fang for a while"

"The White Fang is there to help the Faunus"

"It used to be, it's just a husk now…a thin piece of cloth that the radical hide behind, justifying their acts of brutality by saying that it 'will help the faunus' give me a break Adam"

"Did you know that our squad is the one with the least casualties among the White Fang Cells?"

Adam froze.

"Disgusting isn't it? All those people killed and it's only a slim fraction of the whole. No, Blake was right to leave, honestly, I would force you to go as well except…you'll do more good here. We need to change it before it gets any worse."

I worked on the next door, if I was right the rest of the androids should be in the next few carts, it might be a little annoying keeping the train intact.

"Even you should know the road that we are heading on with all of these incursions on the S.D.C, eventually we'll be deemed too annoying by the councils and then…"

"War…", Adam muttered.

"Exactly, and I don't know about you, but War seems like an annoyance that could be easily avoided if we just changed the White Fang's methods."

***Beep* **The door slid open, a soft whirring of machinery could be heard from inside.

"You're expecting me to go along with this?

"Yep"

"Why? What's stopping me from going straight to the High Leader and getting you removed"

I turned, a bewildered look plastered on my face.

"The same reason I didn't clobber your teeth in when you stabbed me doofus"

I turned back and started walking into the next carriage.

"We're friends."

Adam stood there for a moment, staring at the figure walking away from him.

It started as a soft chuckle, it gradually increased to full blown laughter.

Adam quickly settled, his emotions finally at peace, a maniacal grin on his face.

He quickly walked to the side of the boy as they were surrounded by new androids.

"Petulant?"

"Don't be so dramatic"

Adam's grin widened.

**/_ /**

* * *

"_Look at his horns!"_

"_Faunus Scum"_

"_Think he'll look better with this?"_

_The group cackled as they pressured the young bull faunus into a corner, bruises were prominent throughout his body. They had a branding iron that they inched towards the faunus._

"_No, please stop, th..th..this i.. ..wrong", the frightened child blurted out._

_One of the group members kicked him in the stomach, he vomited what little he had in his stomach and keeled onto the floor. "Shut up, garbage doesn't get to speak"_

"_Hold him still I wanna aim this jussst right", the branding iron lowered towards his fear stricken face as the group held his malnourished form down, without any strength to struggle he broke down sobbing._

_The group just laughed._

_*Aghh*_

_The group paused looking behind, the branding iron a few inches from the child's face._

_They only saw one of their fallen group members spasming on the floor._

"_Damn they really roughed you up huh?", through the blur of tears Adam saw a head of white smiling at him._

_The one holding the iron whipped around, "who the hell ar…RGHHHHH", he spasmed as the hot iron was pressed into his neck._

"_Shut it, garbage isn't meant to speak..."_

_Adam stared in wonder as the boy quickly incapacitated the group, theatrically the white haired kid danced about through the punches and the grabs, did a few groin shots and underhanded manoeuvres, making the group look like a bunch of fools.._

_The spectacle left Adam giggling._

_The kid smiled._

_One person was remaining from the group, he was frightened._

_The kid smiling eerily walked up to him, he couldn't move, his instincts were screaming at him to run but something stopped him from moving, fear perhaps?_

_The boy hit him in a few spots, and he crumpled, oddly enough he was still conscious._

_He felt the kid dragging him by the hair, dragging him back towards the faunus._

"_They abused you right?"_

_His voice was gentle, the faunus with glistening eyes sniffed and nodded._

"_Sorry about that, it's my fault for not getting here sooner…still I'm here now, and just in time soon, looks like they were about to do something horrible to you."_

_Adams lipped quivered._

"_How about some payback hmm?"_

_Adam looked confused until the kid pulled out a small knife and pressed it against the teens throat._

"_They did something wrong to you right? It's only fair that something wrong happens to them… just say the word and the world can be a better place."_

_Adam went as wide eyed as the group member._

_The group member tried to scream out, but his body wasn't responding the way he wanted to, only able to stare directly at the faunus that he previously abused._

"_Come on now, just a simple yes and you can make the world a better place right, one less person to abuse the faunus.", he pressed the blade slightly onto his neck the prick of pain notifying him of blood being drawn._

"_I.. ..its ..wrong", Adam trembled out._

"_Wrong? Whatever do you mean? These guys have been abusing you for weeks and they don't give a shit. They're not the ones working day and night to support themselves, or the ones that have to live a life under constant threat. They're human scum, the lowest of the low. You're telling me that this is wrong?"_

_Adam hesitated, all the things the kid said made sense, there were a lot of people that were mean to him and one less of that number was good right? But that's how they thought…he was faunus scum to them, and they did these things, the bad things and if he did this that would make him the same. He didn't want to be the same, he wanted something better._

_Adam shook his head furiously, "It..it…it", he frowned, took a deep breath "It's wrong!"_

_The air stilled, the kid stared darkly into Adam's eyes, Adam trembled but didn't look away._

_The kid grinned, "Good answer", he threw the knife into the nearby trash container and elbowed the teens chin knocking him unconscious._

_He got up and offered a hand to the faunus, "Want to be friends?"_

Adam yawned, it seemed his insomnia couldn't hold out much longer.

The supplies that they got from the train were vast, enough to support a section of the white fang for at least a year. The prototype tech that they commandeered was a side bonus that 'he' was picking apart from joy. Adam honestly found it odd that he didn't suffer from sleep deprivation judging by how often he saw him resting.

He smiled, "A human leading the white fang…sounded crazy"

He could probably do it, there was no doubt in Adam's mind.

He drifted off to sleep, the rustling wind his lullaby.

He didn't have any nightmares.

**/_ / **

**If there are any fandom characters you want me to reference or include just leave a review, already planning on having team SLVR and SALT as well as a few organisations that'll be detailed far ahead of this chapter. Thanks for reading.**


	7. The New Janitor

"I'm here for the janitorial position."

Glynda looked up from her clipboard, the coming beacon initiation heavy on her mind.

"I called last week? You said to come today…"

"Ah yes, Mr… Oom?"

"Oum… but yes, I brought the documentation that you said I needed", he drew attention to the folder that he brought.

Glynda inwardly groaned, 'you could've timed this a bit better couldn't you', pushing her self-admonishment aside. "Of course, you came right on time, I believe I left the rest of the necessary paperwork in my office, if you'll follow me please.

**/_ /**

"So why do you want this position Mr Oum?"

"Are you asking why I want to be a janitor, or why I want to be a janitor at this Academy?"

"Let's say both."

He quirked his head thoughtfully, "Well I felt that I needed to do something more in life."

"and a custodial position will assist in this?"

"Being a janitor is a respectable job you know, not everyone knows how to clean up other people's mess effectively, there's this one group…well that's not important. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know that everything will fall into place if I work here, and you know, cleaning Beacon Academy seemed like the biggest challenge among everything else."

**/_ /**

"You worked in a Dust shop recently"

"Dust till Dawn yeah, the owner's number is on the referrals if you needed someone to vouch for me."

"Mr Invictus had decided to contact me of his own accord actually."

Ah.

"He said that you were a sharp and good-natured individual."

Wait for it.

"He also said that you caused his shop to undergo more renovation in a month than he had done in the five years that he had owned it."

There it is.

"Still, he didn't say that you were unfit for the task…"

It was a few questions later before the kid got out of his seat, a small bow done before he turned away.

**Approved**

The door closed, soft steps were heard as the new staff member walked away.

Glynda leaned back, Ozpin didn't interfere with the decision, so it was a good indication as any that it wasn't an accident waiting to happen….still… the 'recommendation' he received was still bouncing around her head"

**/_ /**

"Kid's sharp, not many things will slip by him, though that's from his constant snoozing more than anything. You should keep your wits about you, otherwise you'll lose track of him, it's like he's always a step ahead, let him act on his own for a while and eventually he'll end up smack dab in the middle of something huge. Still…kid's heart's in the right place, even if his mind isn't, seen too many customers come in to thank him for something or other…

One of Glynda's eye twitched, "Sir, I asked you how you think he would do as a janitor."

"HAhah ***Cuh Cogh* **easy there Glynda, I can almost see the furrow on your face",

Glynda's furrow furrowed, her old teacher still hadn't seemed to change.

"A Janitor….HhaHAAHA", Ruber began another deep chuckle.

Sensing Glynda's exasperation over the scroll he quickly settled himself with a cough.

"Listen Glynda, I'll tell you this as a favour, your school's in for a ride with him there, whether you hire him or not. If he's there it means that something important is going to happen soon and there's probably little you can do to stop it.

"Little I can do? Sir it's not that I doubt you, I know from my own experience to never do that. But he can't be that dangerous? Can he?"

"Dangerous? You misunderstand Glynda, the boy isn't out for blood, he….well I don't know for sure but, from what he's shown me it's more like….entertainment."

"Entertainment?"

"I haven't seen that kid frown since I met him, if anything his grin grows wider every time a nuisance comes along. He's one kid, but even a pebble can create ripples in a sea, that kid's more like a boulder."

"I'm not sure I'm understanding…."

….

"Alright, you didn't hear this from me, and even if you did I'm pretty much on the edge of alcohol poisoning for my statement to be valid in a judicial office."

Glynda rolled her eyes.

"Like I said the kid hasn't just been working in my dust shop this whole time, he's 'helpful', my 'friends' from Vale tell me that he's been seen often in the shadier side of Vale, anything you can think of, drug deals, illegal shipments, gang raids. You know the news about the intense decline in crime in Vale over the last year?"

"Hm?"

"My gut tells me that the Police department can't take all the credit there, although he's been seen with them as well…. That kid will probably cook up a storm wherever he goes, and now he wants to go to your school."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that he'll probably be hanging around your school no matter what happens, so it's better to at least get some minimum wage labour out of him, hell he'll probably even make a great job of it, like I said kid's sharp, he'll probably be the best janitor you'll have for a long time."

"You're certainly singing high praise for him"

He chuckled at that, "Well I don't do it for no reason, he helped my granddaughter you know? It's how he got the job at my shop in the first place, she ran out on the street while a cargo truck was about to pass by. Next thing I know the kid's beside me with the little squirt on his shoulder while he's just waving his resume at me."

"That's…..certainly a story."

"Yeah, he's also oddly theatrical, try not to let that bother you, like I said kid's got a good heart…I think, still I'm not old enough to start doubting my instincts, and my instincts are telling me to tell you to give him the job."

There was silence over the line as Glynda contemplate.

"_Grandpa?", _a childlike voice rang out in the background of Ruber's phone, "Yes _Precious?"_

"Sorry Glynda gotta go, my Grandkid awaits."

"No trouble Sir, it….it was good hearing from you again."

"You as well Glynda, or Headmistress I suppose", he chuckled, Glynda was tempted to hang up.

"Still…be careful Glynda, the kid might be good natured but the trouble you'll find him in…it won't be", "_Grandpa!", _"_Sorry sweet pea, can you forgive me? How about some ice cream?"_

Glynda hung up and sighed … a Hunter Academy certainly wasn't easy to manage.

**/_ /**

No, it certainly was not. Well work didn't wait for you, it was time to double check the preparation for initiation, as well as to prevent 'misdemeanours' cause by applicants. The previous cohorts drilled that lesson hard into her.

So many broken buildings.

It stressed her out just thinking about it, damn Summer, still managed to haunt the school long after graduation…

Damn that was a bad thought, bad Glynda.

She opened her office door to almost run into the newly acquired staff member, now with fresh janitor clothing, and a bucket…and a mop…well he was certainly fast.

"Is that the schools?" she gestured to the black janitor clothing, it looked oddly stylish to be considered a standard issue piece of clothing.

"Bough…. Well, made it. Turns out that cool Janitor outfits isn't a big market…wait can I not wear it?"

"No… it isn't an issue but…what if you weren't hired?"

The boy went wide eyed, he instantly went at a 90* angle, "Thank you for hiring me Mrs Goodwitch."

It had Glynda's amusement as a small smile attacked a side of her mouth.

"Well, better go earn my wage, see you later Miss Goodwitch.", he ran off, bucket and mop in hand.

He stopped at the end of the corridor and turned, "If you need me and can't find me my numbers on the card.", he raced off.

Card?

Glynda realised she was holding an ornate card, as she read, she wondered how much wasted effort he would have done if he wasn't hired.

**Monty Oum**

**Unofficial Janitor**

Glynda stored the card and started to walk toward the ballroom, as she did, she started to notice.

The corridor was spotless, the crumbs from Port's 14th snack of the morning had vanished, the ketchup stain on the wall from a week ago…..it looked odd for it to be so clean.

She stared at her reflection through the now shiny tile wall.

"He's _really_ fast."


	8. Grimm Studies

Other than making sure Jaune didn't shatter his legs in the first 30 seconds, initiation went pretty smoothly.

On second thought maybe unlocking his aura would've helped in the long run…still I never believed in shortcuts, he managed to dial down himself from becoming a splatter by using the surrounding trees as leverage, a testament to the fact that he persevered in his training, alas terminal velocity was still terminal velocity.

100 students passed Initiation, simple math dictates that there would be 25 teams, logic dictated the number needed to be lower. Being a Hunter wasn't a safe life after all.

Dozens of applicants had either died or been severely injured during Initiation.

100 students surviving was a favourable outcome all things considered.

100 was an odd number though, it seemed that Hunter Schools are aimed to have as many applicants as possible, 10 teams were made through collection of the power pieces, the rest were just pawns….there was something poetic to be said there but perhaps it was just to instil an early sense of competition, perhaps it was coincidence.

"Heh…coincidence", I chuckled as the newly established RWBY and JNPR rushed off to barely make it to class.

If I recall correctly they have Grimm Studies in the final period …. better have a visit.

Walking past RWBY's room a creaking sounded out, a quick look showed a precarious bed straining the plaster on the ceiling.

"Ah… the Bunkbeds….", Well I did have the tools on hand….

**/_ /**

Yang was on the verge of a blackout, while she respected Hunter's as much as anybody, her whole family was practically ingrained in the world after all, she couldn't come to put much of that respect into listening into the stocky man in front of her.

While Port was interesting as an individual, apparent flirtation aside, his teaching wasn't exactly at the same level.

"Despite smelling of cabbages my grandfather was a wise man, Peter he told me…"  
Yang's head was about to enter the dreamworld.

"Are you talking about the Cabbage King? Sir Isaac Port."

The whole class simultaneously broke out of their sleepy trance to the sound of a new voice and attention was given to a grinning…. janitor?

"Pardon the intrusion, it's just that Sir Isaac is sort of one of my heroes."

"Ho Ho, not a problem my boy, yes to answer your question I was just mentioning my Grandfather."

"Woah! You're a descendant to the Cabbage King? What an amazing coincidence, I hoped to see what became of the Port Family"

"I'm sorry, Cabbage King?", a look of disbelief was on Weiss Schnee, whether from finding the title odd, or from experiencing her first lesson disruption.

"I am interested how you came about that information as well, that moniker isn't known very commonly even among those who know our family well."

The Janitor smiled and scratched his black mop of hair, "Well I did once assist in a history project for Vacuo so eventually I'd have to come across that tid-bit…" he looked over to see a confused class staring at him with oddly rapt attention.

"I see an explanation is in order… I would but first an apology to you Mr Port, could I have the pleasure of teaching these younglings in place of you for a short period?"

"Ha, no need to be polite my lad, if you can teach them well then I say go right on ahead, a short explanation though if you will, this is Grimm Studies after all as much as I would like to hear all about my family's illustrious history."

"Thank you, Sir, well then…" he turned, "I'll give you a ten-minute crash course on the Cabbage King"

The rest of the period was…interesting, Yang had never seen someone enter a room before and co-coordinate a lesson, but at this point she chalked it up to the specialty of the Academy.

The boy began with telling a tale about the legendary hunter Isaac Port, who saved a portion of the continent of Vacuo from hordes of Grimm as well as helped solve the starvation through…you guessed it, Cabbages. Old man somehow managed to get them grow in the arid conditions of Vacuo, in turn saving pretty much thousands from dying via empty stomach.

The way he got the name 'Cabbage King'?

Turns out at a large village south of the now Shade Academy were under threat of a horde of beowolves, the damage was going to be catastrophic and the time to evacuate was limited, apparently due to an inability of the government to give an early signal to village for some odd reason. Still, Isaac port was there with a fresh harvest of cabbages.

What the janitor detailed after that point got the whole class to crack a smile.

With a few aura trained helpers, Isaac was able to weaponize the cabbages, turning them into the equivalent of cannonballs, the battle was legendary, chock full of Grimm remains and Cabbage pieces.

In the end Isaac stood mightily as the Grimm foe was vanquished. A feast was held at night to celebrate his victory. The meal? Cabbage Soup. From there the moniker 'Cabbage King' was forever engraved into the hearts of those villagers.

"There are a three things to be learnt here; One is the versatility of aura, with enough aura control anything can be made deadly, and I do mean anything, although it is difficult for an efficient effect to be gained from many items…allow me to demonstrate, Ms Xiao Long could you catch this eraser for me?"

An intrigued Yang held her arms up in a catch pose as the janitor gently threw the blackboard eraser.

The eraser landed in Yang's hand…she immediately felt something wrong and rushed to aura enhance her arms as the eraser impacted into her palms with a loud thud, she stumbled back into the soft wall behind her. It felt like someone threw a metal bar at her with full force, luckily, she had reacted in time otherwise the stinging sensation would've been the least of her worries.

The Eraser quickly lost its initial energy and ended back to its original lightweight state.

"Very nice reaction Miss Xiao Long, as you can see the Eraser could've done some serious damage to a non-aura user. Unfortunately, that's just about the extent of its conductibility otherwise we would be wiping Grimm out with toothpicks.", that earned a chuckle from the class.

"Now Miss Xiao Long, I would like you to throw it back, and try to hit me with some ferocity, although I am sorry for it, I did injure you, try and use some of that grievance as well as an application of aura to hurt me yes?"

Yang grinned, well since he asked so nicely…

She flowed her aura all the way to her fingertips, attempting to inject the aura into the Eraser.

She frowned, as she heightened the flow, it didn't have much of an effect, she could actively feel her aura draining itself out of the object, either dissipating into the air or reattaching itself back to the source.

It was straining but eventually with a large decrease in reserves she managed to keep the aura inside the eraser to what she thought was an acceptable amount. Before the chance disappeared, she whipped her arm back and slugged it as hard as she could at the janitor.

The Eraser sailed, and uneventfully it made a soft slap against the janitor's hand as he gave a soft grin.

Yang blushed.

Placing the eraser back underneath the board.

"As you can see that didn't exactly have the same effect as my throw, even though she had a much larger output…can anyone tell me why?"

The class paused as they were surprised to be offered a chance into the lesson, Weiss's hand shot up first.

"Mr Winchester, I believe?", he pointed to the orange haired individual with his feet on the table.

Cardin stared for a moment before he gave a grimy smirk, "Cause she sucked at using her aura.", Yang narrowed her eyes.

"Easy there… no fighting yet, leave that for combat class, but yes, as abrasive as Mr Winchester's comment was, he is correct."

New teacher was quickly losing points in Yang's book

"In fact, you all 'suck', as Mr Winchester put it, very few of you could manage Yang's accomplishment, fewer still mine.", he picked up the duster again, "In fact Mr Winchester I do believe that you are near the bottom of that list, unless of course you would like to prove me wrong?"

Cardin grunted and found interest in his table as the janitor smiled and put the duster back.

Ok, Janitor got back in her good books.

"Though aura manipulation is a fundamental aspect to hunters, aura transference is a more advanced technique that some of you may learn and some of you may simply unable to throughout your lives no matter how hard you train yourselves."

"This of course isn't your fault, there are many who have a knack for it and those who don't, there are hundreds of legendary hunters who have abysmal ability to extend their aura beyond their body. However, Sir Isaac Port was not one of those people, it is significantly harder to inject a cabbage with aura compared to a duster, you'll learn why soon enough, in fact he used a special method to make them dangerous enough to destroy the horde, once again something that will have to be learnt at a later date."

"The second lesson is about the beowolf and what kind of creature they are, after all the cabbage isn't the deadliest weapon in the world…except to your tastebuds.", another chorus of chuckles

"As important as aura is, this isn't the correct class for that so I believe that Professor Port can enlighten you a bit more and at the now ….20 minute mark I'm going to have to apologise again Mr. Port, I seem to have wasted more time than intended."

"Ho, no need to apologise my boy, your story telling was magnificent, almost as good as my own if I may say so."

The class gave doubtful stares. If Port noticed he gave no indication as he slapped the janitor on the back

"Yes, a perfect Segway to the main content you'll be learning here at Grimm Studies, Grimm, or should I say _Prey_?", the class collectively groaned, wishing for the janitor to come back to the spotlight before the drowsiness came to attack them.

"If I may Sir, could I stand in the background here, as much as I hate disrupting learning it is my first day here and I thought that this could be an enlightening experience."

"Hmm, alright, I would ask you not to make a habit of it though, as much as I can respect a fellow storyteller, I don't respect the halt of a student's education."

"Of course, Sir."

Port nodded as he turned back to the class.

"As I was saying before, when I was a boy…", the class would've collectively fell comatose if not for what the janitor did.

He turned moving the boards aside to reveal a clear dark patch of the wall, the intrigued class watched as he pulled a projector from behind the table. One connection of a laptop and a screen display of a blank word document appeared.

It was intriguing to Port as he paused not 5 minutes later due to seeing most of the class enraptured and taking notes, it was certainly an oddity for first years, especially in his class. He continued with a bit more glee.

An hour of storytelling later.

"In the end the beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity and I returned to the village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated, as a hero. The moral of the story? A true Huntsman must be honourable, a true huntsman must be dependable, a true huntsman must be strategic, well educated and wise.", he turned to see the janitor sitting at the desk with nothing more than a laptop as the rapid tapping of keys made itself known.

"Would you agree, Mr…"

"Oum…but call me Monty, never did like honorifics…to answer, yes a hunter should be these things... at least a good hunter. It is good for all to have those traits in fact, it helps everyone in the long run…"

"Oh, and do you think you have those traits?"

Monty grinned, "Would you like to find out?"

Port pressed a button on his scroll, a wall to the side separated and brought in a large rattling cage.

"A live Grimm? I am impressed that you've managed to capture it alive Mr. Port."

"It was truly nothing my boy, and please call me Peter, we are fellow staff members after all."

Monty's grin grew, "I'll take you up on that, Peter", he stood in front of the cage.

"Will you not be using a weapon?"

"My fists will do for this..."

"Hm…well you haven't shaken my faith yet, alright let the match…"

"Hold on!", Port halted his weapon a bit away from the about to be deemed useless lock.

"Yes Monty? What seems to be the issue."

"On second thought I would like some assistance, after all it isn't exactly _wise_ to reject aid that is right in front of you."  
"Ho, too right my boy, What do you have in mind?"

"At it's basis, this is a class, and as much as I'd like to be, I'm not a student, nor am I officially trained to fight Grimm.", turning to the class, "I believe you all fit that description better, so then that leaves the question."

"Which of you think you have the traits of a great huntsman?"

A few hands raised to the challenge, but none as quickly or primly as Weiss Schnee, who a few seconds ago was distastefully staring at her leader.

"Ah, Miss Schnee, could I trouble a huntress in training such as yourself to help this poor civilian? That is, if your up for the task?"

"I am!"

"Well then, let's find out. Please come here when ready."

Weiss took a moment to retrieve Myrtenaster from the nearby lockers.

The locker system of Beacon, you couldn't walk a metre before they came into view, more for the convenience of Huntsman with cumbersome weapons which even when mecha-shifted posed trouble for them to carry around casually.

The 'rocket' part of the lockers just a fun bonus for a Hunter in need, it was truly a marvel of engineering for it to be able to accurately approach scrolls in a 10 mile radius of the academy, extremely dust efficient as well, seeing as though anyone student or staff had constant access to it…well as dust efficient as a rocket locker could be anyway…you would think that dust would be a limited resource too…..

…

Weiss took a moment to retrieve Myrtenaster from the nearby lockers.

Taking up a position next to Monty in front of the cage, she raised Myrtenaster.

Her team cheered on, only for Weiss to only berate Ruby. The Janitor rolled his eyes.

With a nod to Port, "Alright, let the match, begin!", Blowhard was swung down, the lock was sliced off, and the boarbatusk released.

The Boarbatusk charged.

The Janitor clapped his hands together, "Time for an impromptu lesson!", the class was surprised.

"What? In the middle of battle, you'll often have to strategize, not everyone has the luxury of knowing the opponent that they will face…that being said."

The Janitor waited with an arm drew back as the Boarbatusk rushed towards him.

He slammed his palm into the centre of the Grimm's mask, it sounded out like a gunshot, the wind visibly distorting as an after effect. The shudder ran throughout the Grimm as it stood there in a daze-like fashion.

"It's always easier to talk during a break. Now who can tell me what Grimm this is?"

There was silence for a moment until the class finally started to understand, the teaching style was odd enough, so it was understandable to be a bit confused. One student decided to give everyone a jumpstart.

"A Boarbatusk.", one Cardin Winchester sounded out, with a bored sounding tone to show his enthusiasm on the matter.

"Thank you, Mr Winchester, Ms Schnee if you could handle this for a moment?"

It was Weiss's turn to be surprised as he strongarmed the Grimm into Weiss's direction as it recovered and began to charge.

"It's danger rating?"

"1 but…", a brown headed girl sounded out.

"But?", "That one looks stronger than the ones we had back at home."

"A good observation Ms Grayson, which leads us to the next question…", Monty paused as Weiss inadvertently sent the Boarbatusk towards him after dodging away.

He held his hands out gripping the horns of the Boarbatusk as it charged into him, he skidded back, balance firm, up to the front of desks behind him.

The Boarbatusk struggled to move, but Monty had an unshakeable hold on it as he took the chance to sit up on the reinforced stands.

"How old is this Grimm?", only the sound of the Boarbatusk struggling was heard, even Ruby Rose had stopped cheering her teammate on to ponder for a moment.

"How about you? Miss Blairedon?", he turned to look at the bow wearing individual who was position right behind him.

Blake stared at soft brown eyes with a quizzical look.

"Care to take a guess?", a soft smile, so familiar, it was on the tip of her tongues…

It eluded her, instead a memory came up about her old mentor teaching them about the Grimm.

"20 years."

"How do you figure?", the Boarbatusk started to thrash about wildly, yet still held in place by a relaxed Monty awaiting Blakes response.

"The tusks…they grow up to the eyes at full maturity, which is 15 years, so that leaves the scales, on the back specifically. Each piece represents about a year in growth."

"Very good Miss Blairedon, now the Grimm age just like any other animal, with time, evolving to be even deadlier, luckily it isn't an infinite cycle of evolving or I'm sure Remnant would have been overtaken long ago, it also helps that eventually even Grimm succumb to old age…. "

There was a pause as the Janitor went thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head and continuing.

"In the Boarbatusks case maturity is about 15 years as Miss Blairedon mentioned, and with maturity they are classified as Tier 2 Grimm, not much of a step up but enough to make the ones that you knew of Miss Grayson to seem insignificant by comparison."

With that he kicked the Boarbatusk into the side of the cage where a large crack resounded. White plating crumbled off as the Grimm made a pained cry, in a rage as it picked itself up and charged at the first target it could see.

It could see Weiss.

"Now let's talk about the easiest way to kill the Grimm shall we?"

"The eyes?", Shani Grayson spoke up again.

"Yes, the eyes are always a valid weak point, however for mature Grimm these weaknesses are always compensated, whether through a natural growth of protective shelling."

Weiss promptly got disarmed by the tusks of the Grimm.

"Or the Grimm's own instinctive experience…never underestimate a Grimm, you may think that they are mindless animals, and that argument can be valid to an extent, but each and every one of them have their own little tricks to deal with you and end your careers if you aren't cautious…"

"Anyway, back to its weaknesses, the eyes, the back, at least underneath the plating if you get that far, the inside of its mouth, its hindlegs if you want to be technical and its…rump of course. However there's one last one that I'm thinking of, so that even your child with a kitchen knife can play "Hunt the Grimm…"

Ruby gasped as Weiss retrieved her weapon,

"Weiss go for its belly, there's no armour underneath!...

"Stop telling me what to do!", almost instinctively the Boarbatusk knew its end was close, so it attempted to strike with all its force spinning into its attacker. Weiss rebounded the force with an impact glyph and forced it to fall on its back before she promptly stabbed into its vitals.

Monty grabbed at the ashes that were dissipating, "Current public research hasn't yet found why all Grimm dissipate upon fatal injury. On the bright side it makes clean up a lot easier than it should be." A final murmuring of giggles, a smiling Janitor and a clapping Port.

"Ho! Bravo my boy, that lesson was positively splendid, couldn't have done it any better if I may say so."

"I thank you for the praise Si..Ough", he collapsed as Port clapped him on the back.

"Didn't I say to call me Peter?", he smiled and turned to Weiss, "Bravo Miss Schnee, it appears we have a true Huntress in training within our midst, I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, your assigned readings have all been sent to you, make sure you catch up on them, stay vigilant. class dismissed."

Weiss caught her breath, and a look of annoyance crept onto her face as she walked away promptly.

Ruby quickly ran after her as the classroom emptied itself leaving Port and a still dazed Monty at the front.

"It appears that there is team conflict at play here…Hmmm."

"It'll be solved…somehow…"

"I sure do hope so, I would hate for the growth of a student to be halted by, and you're gone.", Port looked around to see that he was speaking to an empty classroom, a bit embarrassed he walked out,

'It isn't too late for my 15th pre-lunch biscuit right? Yes, that would be preposterous, 25th perhaps…', his embarrassment quickly faded into the background as he looked forward to another treat.

**/_ /**

I swept up the last of the dust on the rooftop and deposited it in the nearby container. Hmm, it was full…another trip to the incinerator I suppose.

The view was quite remarkable at least, Vale could easily be seen in the distance, shimmering lights representing the hustle and bustle of the twilight. The bullheads flying to and from the academy, the students chattering in the courtyard, Weiss Schnee walking towards me…

Damn it…well I sort of brought it upon myself, wait, she hasn't noticed me…if I just calmly walk away maybe…

"Oh, hello Sir", "No 'Sir's', I'm just the janitor, no need to address me formally."

Weiss looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, you taught us today and gave important information that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise from Professor Port, with respect to him of course."

"Nonsense, you kids are smart, Port's method of teaching just takes some getting used to, I just sped up the process a bit."

"Regardless Si…", Weiss inhaled sharply as a broom handle was instantly resting on her forehead.

"Don't 'Sir' me, too formal for a janitor, other wise I'll start constantly calling you Lady Weiss Schnee, Second Child of Jacques Schnee of the SDC Corporation."

Weiss blinked rapidly as I retracted the handle and rested it and the bucket on a nearby bench.

"Monty, or Oum, or whatever endearing name you eventually come to call me due to the rumour mill, just not 'Sir', or worse…'Mr. Oum'", I shuddered, "Makes me feel old every time I hear it."

"Now, that's enough of me complaining, it's your turn."

Weiss looked quizzically, still unused to the treatment.

I continued, "There was something bothering you while fighting the Boarbatusk, I could read it on your face then just like I read it on your face when you stalked up here. Something's troubling you."

"I don't…

"_Someone's_ troubling you."

Her lips turned into a frown.

"Allow me to tell you about a girl I know, this might take a short while so please sit.", I move the bucket and broom to the far end to the bench and sat in the middle.

Weiss looked hesitant, "Sit, it won't bite, I promise."

Somewhat reluctantly she smoothed out her skirt and sat down.

"So, this girl I know is a very odd individual, while probably capable of fulfilling her tasks she constantly gets in her own way due to not being able to act the appropriate way for her current circumstances. She's extremely childish, doing things without thinking to an almost impulsive degree, and she gives advice as if its something that the other person would have never considered even when there should be no doubt that it isn't necessary."

"Exactly! At least someone understands. I can't believe that Ozpin chose…

I cut her off, "It's funny that you agree, seeing as though that I was speaking about Lady Weiss Schnee, Second Child of Jacques Schnee of the SDC Corporation."

She sat stunned for a moment before the face of annoyance dredged itself back up, "How dare you!"

"My point is being proven, tell me Miss Schnee, and give me some room to work with here, you've never been denied to the things you've desired….well ever really. Yes?"

"That isn't remotely true.", soft brown eyes stared at her, she glanced away, "Well not entirely true…"

"Can you, without a doubt say that the fact that you've been denied this role has been affecting the way you've been treating your teammate?"

She didn't meet my eyes.

"I couldn't tell you who would make a better leader, but I can tell you that while that girl has been trying to open her heart out to you in the way that a leader should, you have been brushing her off at almost every turn, especially when she tries to help you in the way that she knows best."

Weiss looked to respond, I held up a hand to stop her.

"That's not to say that her method's are correct, but she has been acting with full intent on performing at her absolute best to help you perform at your absolute best, meanwhile you cannot even seem to act as a proper teammate in return for her efforts."

Weiss looked down at her hands gripping her knees.

"Do you know what she is likely doing now? Even now after you have made it fully clear that you don't accept her as leader, she is working to fulfill that role as best as possible by studying her heart out."

So the outcome didn't fall into your favour, do you think by acting this way that it would convince anyone that you would be a better leader or for those in power to reconsider their decisions. Focus on what you do have rather than what you don't, improve yourself to the very limit and though you may not be the best leader, you will be the best person possible, the best teammate possible. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give for others to follow you?"

I let her simmer for a moment.

"But hey what do I know, I'm just a minimum wage Janitor."

I got up and left Weiss to ponder.

I got to the hallway till I realised that I had left the broom and bucket behind.

Damn it.

**/_ / **

"What happened to our room?", a dumbfounded Yang stood next to her equally confused sister and catty teammate as they stared at beds that actually looked like beds rather than death traps.

"There are symbols engraved on each bunks wood…", Blake observed.

True enough, apart from the change that was from their 'bunkbeds' officially seeming to become bunkbeds, there were ornate carvings of their symbol each on the respective beds they chose in the morning.

"Beacon sure is odd….", Ruby sounded out, before her face shifted, wait no Bad Ruby! Need to focus, Study time!

**/_ /**

I had finished the first rotation around the school when I saw Weiss going into her dorm with two cups of steaming coffee.

I smiled and went to put the cleaning supplies away.

Hopefully it was always this smooth.

**/_ /**

**This chapter was absurdly long, Shani Grayson was referenced here from Team SALT from the Rwby Fanon, and probably more to come from them in future. If you have anything interesting that you might like to see in this story from there, then feel free to Review or Message. Till next time.**


	9. Jaunedice V2

Cardin chuckled as he watched the blonde retake a stance.

The blond charged forward, his form was sloppy.

'Weakling', Cardin thought as he pulled off a quick reversal slamming the blonde a few metres away where he quickly leapt up.

'Stamina in droves, odd to think that his technique is this bad'

'Well I guess "Weaklings never change.", Cardin produced a vicious grin as he trapped an overhead swing with his mace.

"Wha?..UGH!", Cardin went for the crotch shot. He landed it. Jaune fell.

He went for another swing at the floored Jaune until the match buzzer sounded.

'Odd…I was sure that he had more aura.'

Cardin swaggered off.

**/_ /**

* * *

Cardin's hand stopped, shy a few inches from the fuzzy ears, blocked by a wooden pole.

The custodially dressed figure leaned the mop on the bench and sat between Cardin and his target meal in hand.

"Mr Winchester, I would advise against touching faunus ears, or any ears for that matter, especially when it regards a second year, unless of course you don't value your hands. Your cake Miss, sorry it took so long."

He set down a slice of carrot cake in front of Velvet.

"Ah…Um, Thank you…I think I'll eat somewhere else.", Velvet quickly rose and collected the plate.

Russel moved.

Monty eyed him underneath his cap.

He slid past Velvet putting his hand on Cardin's shoulder.

"Come on man, let's get out of here."

Cardin hesitated, his eyes narrowed, he grunted and brushed off his teammates hand.

"No, not this time, this guy keeps hassling us every time we do anything, and we keep running away whenever he looks at us funny. I've had it with this douche swaggering around like he owns the place."

The surrounding students found it amusing to hear this from Cardin of all people.

The custodian rose with Cardin, leaning on his mop half a metre between them.

"I would call it teaching you…but then again I'm not exactly a qualified practitioner."

They stood off, Cardin just waiting for a reason to appear.

"Well now is a good time as any to inflict another one, how about a change of method?"

"What are you on abou..Urf", Cardin almost choked as a berry was thrown into his gullet.

"Hey..Urf", without giving him a chance to speak berries continuously thwacked against his face, always entering his mouth the moment he opened wide enough.

Cardin got his reason.

His fist went flying.

Another berry hit his face.

Cardin hit air as Monty almost glided backwards still firing berries off.

This scene continued for a few more seconds as Cardin tried to attack, missing each time, and getting a face full of berries in return. Surrounding students started to wonder where the supply was coming from.

"You know what? I've changed my mind. SOUMA!", he yelled while dodging another of Cardin's grab attempts.

"Yo." A mop of red hair popped out from the kitchen entrance.

"One order for a school practical."

Souma cackled, "Coming right up!"

The upper years realised what was coming as a few of them leapt up and ran to the entrance.

They wouldn't get very far.

The cafeteria transformed with smooth efficiency, white covers on the walls, a banner reading 'Warzone' dropping down, and the ceiling opening up.

A mass of food started dropping down.

Some seniors were quick on the uptake as they began their battles, most aiming for the attempted escapees.

Semblances were brought out.

"LET THE 52nd BEACON FOOD GAMES BEGIN!."

No survivors.

**/_ /**

* * *

The first years we're pretty quick to grasp their situation as they put up their own struggle in the mass chaos.

That was their one good grace, unfortunately they didn't last long, the upper years were all on coincidental break. Their skill in the battle was evident as they were relatively untouched by the mass of outdated food, that is…for the most part.

It was 20 minutes before two teams remained, Team SLVR and Team CVFY, it seemed that Velvet came back for revenge judging by the carrot slush on Cardin's unconscious form.

The other teams were either defeated or for the most part, had other places to be. They all got hit some way, somehow.

I made sure of that.

Hitting one stubborn Ezdeil with a cream pie was the most difficult, although completely worth it and hilarious, it also ended up with a pissed off blur of green aura that was ready to crush me.

Luckily Anoel decided to step in, knocking her teammate unconscious and bidding me a wink farewell as she slung him over her shoulder. I waved as they were cleaned by Souma's 'Removal' and left the cafeteria.

I turned to watch SLVR and CVFY duking it out.

CVFY were on the ropes as they took cover behind a mass of tables while being pelted with semi-rotten cabbages. Ragora's familiar had inhaled a large number of cans, it flew, aiming to spray all of the CVFY members.

Yatsuhashi slammed his palms downwards, the ground vibrated to team SLVR where they momentarily lost balance.

Team CVFY rushed out from both sides of the barricade. Coco hurled enhanced berries at SLVR, they practically exploded into the members flinging them back. Velvet took on Lycan with lobster claws to his crab, Vella was halted from helping by Fox who wielded half-burgers. Yatsuhashi threw compressed air towards Ragora's familiar, blasting it through the roof.

It was moments before team SLVR lay strewn about.

With a grunt Simin propped himself on his elbows, shirt splattered with berry stains, to see a murderous, yet fashionable, figure loom over him.

They stared.

Coco grinned, then offered her hand.

Simin returned the grin and pulled himself up.

"THE NEW WINNER, TEAM CVFY!", the small crowd of spectators that stuck around to see the aftermath cheered. Ruby couldn't stop shaking her sister in excitement.

"As with tradition, your honorary trophy.", I kneeled and presented a bronze trophy, a '52nd' as the centrepiece, and oddly enough accurate depictions of Team CVFY posing beside it in all of their bronze glory.

Coco took it in a proud manner, well as proud as you can be with cabbage scraps in your hair.

She raised it high as the crowd cheered and team SLVR clapped politely.

"Alright, alright! It's been fun everyone, unfortunately it'll be soon time for classes. Plus, we need to get out of here before…

"GOODWITCH INCOMING!", an upperclassman bolted into the cafeteria screaming and rushed out the other side at aura enhanced speeds.

"There it is! Quick quick, you don't want to be caught by the Food Queen herself, she doesn't take kindly to competitors."

The crowd chuckled as they swarmed the exit that the upperclassman exited, Souma taking away any sign of the battle from their clothing as they exited.

I handed an exiting Velvet a container, she looked confused.

"I noticed you never really ate that cake slice. Enjoy.", she blushed as she gave a quick thanks and went out with hurriedly, a spring evident in her step.

I felt my cap being removed, quickly replaced by a soft covering.

It was followed by my cheek being covered by something softer…warmer.

I blinked.

Coco came into view with her newly acquired cap.

"Thanks for taking care of Bun-Bun tiger.", she winked and headed off.

Well…

I checked my scroll. "Souma go lock up, quickly!"

"Roger!"

**/_ /**

* * *

Glynda entered the Cafeteria expecting another headache.

"Hey Miss G.", It appeared faithfully, albeit in an unexpected form.

"Mr Oum...", she nodded in greeting looking around the cafeteria, it looked…oddly normal, save for a few out of place tables and chairs, but that was neither here or there.

Strange, from what she could gather from the nearby students there should've been a large commotion going on.

Really now they really did need to hide their body language more.

Still though, for the cafeteria to be completely spotless was a pleasant surprise, still…

"Looking for something?" a smug grin was hanging off a wet broom.

"Not anymore it seems.", with a clipped tone she turned to exit the Cafeteria.

"Hungry?", almost on cue Glynda's stomach gave a small roar. A small blush came on, and she quickly quenched it before turning, to see a small plastic container being pressed into her hands.

"It was probably going to go to waste anyway.", he stepped past as she looked inside to see steaming rice layered with natto and green onions.

Natto, a mistralian delicacy, one that was had a smell too pungent and a texture too odd for the masses.

She happened to favour it immensely…

Gone to waste?

She turned quickly, to find that he had disappeared. Shaking her head, she went to the kitchen of the cafeteria.

"Souma."

Faithfully popping his head out.

"Ma'am?"

"Did you by chance serve natto today?"

"Natto? Nah, stuffs too taste specific to have as a general meal, would only prepare it on a special order.", he eyed the container in her hands.

"Ah…", he craned his head out further and looked around the cafeteria, making sure it was suitably empty, he began whispering.

"To tell you the truth, and you didn't hear this from me, we did have some natto fermenting here up until an hour ago, but none of my crew made it and it was only enough for one serving."

He leaned back with a knowing wink, "If you catch my meaning."

"Thank you, Souma, I think I do…", she rolled her eyes in a way befitting a woman of her stature and left the cafeteria.

Container in hand of course, after all it wouldn't do to waste food.

It also helped that it tasted really really good…

**/_ /**

* * *

"So, you came to me?"

Jaune nodded as the night-time breeze ruffled his mop of hair.

"Honestly kid, I'm flattered, I really am, but I don't think that I'm the right guy to ask for help right now.", he yawned while leaning against his broom. "Don't you have Nikos as your partner anyway? Why not ask her? She's pretty good at what she does."

He hesitated then, a frown upon his lips, "I can't ask her for help…"

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't!", Jaune reaffirmed, "and I can't go to Ren, or Nora, or anyone else."

"So, you came to me?", wow Deja-vu… "Why?"

"Why not? The only reason I'm in Beacon is because of you, don't you think you could help me out."

"What? Hell no, I'm not your teacher, we barely even know each other, all I did was give you some guidelines on how to toughen up.", 'Oum's Manual on Body Strengthening Mk 14' to be precise but it still counted as 'guidelines'.

"You're the one that decided to follow them up till now, so don't come to me expecting me to help you out of my 'sense of duty'. I still don't get why you can't just ask your teammates. Is it because you think you'll be bothering them? Is that it? Lil Jauney Boy embarrassed about asking for help from the people who put up with him for…what is it, four weeks now?"

"That isn't it…"  
"What then?"

"It's Complicated alright!?

"Then Uncomplicate it! You made it! Believe it or not, you got here by yourself! From your forged transcripts, to your initiation, to the fact that you have a bloody eight pack when most seventeen-year old's would rather sit at home and play videogames. Explain to me why _this _Jaune Arc can't pick up his manhood and just ask his teammates to…

"Because I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the Hero!", Jaune searched the soft brown eyes for something, anything that could give him an excuse to walk away.

Mockery, reluctance, annoyance….no it was just a deep gaze that just kept him in the dark, waiting to see what he would do. So, he continued.

"I'm tired of being the comic relief, I don't want to be the lovable idiot that gets stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives. Every day I have to watch them grow and improve while I'm stuck on the team dragging them behind, and every day I have to accept that eventually I won't be good enough to even do that anymore…" tears started to prick his eyes.

"So…so if I can't at least improve, without them" He grit his teeth refusing to allow the tears to fall, "Then what good am I?"

"You think asking help from me is any different?"

He shook his head in frustration.

"I'll…I'll do it alone if I have to, it's just…it's just that I thought if anyone could help me…hell if anyone _would_ help me at this point then it would be you, and I just can't…I can't drag them down anymore…" the tears threatened to break out.

The moment stood still, almost an eternity of contemplation, before the Janitor sighed… "Heads up Vomit Boy."

"Wha..Ufh." It impacted into Jaunes chest, stumbling him eerily close to the edge. It quickly drained of aura and fell into Jaunes open hands as he quickly pulled himself away from the edge.

A Handkerchief.

"Wipe your tears, only I'm allowed to make my student's cry."

The tears still threatened to burst, but Jaune managed to wipe them away and swallow the rest down.

"I..I.."

"Hap bap bap bap.", he interrupted, "I don't want to hear your thanks….and trust me you really don't want to be thanking me, especially not after I'm done with you. Besides you're not officially my student yet, I have conditions." He held up two fingers.

Jaune stood up straight, "Anything."

"No hesitation, I like it, don't worry the first one's pretty easy, we talked about it earlier." He pointed downwards with a knowing look.

Jaune bit his lower lip in thoughtfulness before nodding harshly.

"The second…. well the second is how you do next."

Jaune barely saw his arm incoming, he couldn't move, it pierced his head.

Then Black.

**/_ /**

* * *

Jaune suddenly found himself on a vast plain, land as flat and filled with grass as far as the eye could see.

Armed with Crocea Mors and his shield with his Aura at full charge, he breathed in, it felt good.

Why was he here? A Mission? Did first years do that? His head felt like a blur….

It didn't really matter, he needed to find his team, get some answers.

It was subtle at first, the grass shifted a bit unnaturally. But it quickly picked up in pace, the tremors evident enough for even Jaune to know something was wrong.

He felt it before he saw it, like every fibre of his being was rejecting it, it was what allowed him to look in the right direction.

Black.

A mass writhing horde of darkness, quickly darkening the sky and the ground with their number.

The Grimm.

Uncountable.

It was terrifying.

His shield and sword made a soft thud as they dropped to the grass, smaller rapid thuds followed as Jaune ran in the opposite direction, desperate to get farther away.

He saw a village, then his teammates, he ran past them, they barely looked at him, they looked like they were preparing to fight the….the….

No, it couldn't be, they would run too right? There's no way they could beat that, so they would run. So, would the villagers, right? There was no reason to not try and run. Surviving was important.

Then why was he crying?

**/_ /**

* * *

Jaune came into reality in a cold sweat.

What?

What was he thinking about…it was blurry, his teammates? A village…and black. He shivered, luckily his thoughts were fleeting, like trying to remember a dream.

"Remember the first condition Jaune. Later", The Janitor gave backwards wave as he walked away.

First? Oh right…wait what was the second…

That thought left him as Cardin climbed over the rooftop, and his whole world shattered.

…

Drama Queen, the extra homework will be good for him.

* * *

**I won't do this too often so if i could please ask you to read the pile of schlop i wrote below.**

**Introduced Team SLVR, I don't think they'll be of major plot prevalence but i decided to add as much cool RWBY stuff into this story as i could Canon or otherwise. Although you probably wouldn't be reading this if you hadn't already, for those of you who haven't make sure to check out Mark Zhang's animations on youtube, he really captures the 'old' RWBY charm.**

**P.s. If you haven't noticed i'm attempting to fix up everything that's complained about in the current series of RWBY. Since Season 3 alot of things have changed because...well i doubt i have to explain it. Consider this story to be a...lets say gap filler of sorts for alot of cracks that the show has developed. I'll definitely need your guys help to fill any gaps that I'll definitely miss, and any more content that i can definitely add (canon or otherwise, come on Rwby Fanon Readers, I'm looking at you)**

**All in all i don't expect this to be "The Fanfic that makes RWBY amazing" because there are HUNDREDS of fanfics of overall better quality that have WAY better things to attract a reader.**

**But I can safely say that it's a fun step in the right direction for what RWBY could've been with enough creative risk taken, and i know that one day eventually (or maybe it has already happened) someone will be able to create the perfect rendition of what RWBY could be (through fan fiction most likely), Oum knows that the current official RWBY designers won't be the ones who do it.**

***Whispers* And to be honest i don't think Coeur Al'Aran will do it either.**

**What i hope this Fic can be is a rendition of RWBY that one can find acceptable and at its best, one that can pave the way for a better more qualified writer to create RWBY in their own 'perfect' image, so that we can enjoy the story that we probably can never get 'officially'.**

**That's for the future though, until then please try to review, i always like to hear about my mistakes, I'm insecure like that.**

**Caoi readers.**


	10. Sap and Training

"I can't believe Peach is allergic to this stuff…", he held up a jar and sniffed at the sweet-smelling concoction.

"It doesn't stop her from using it in her many, many experiments.", Glynda replied sitting on a flat rock, basking in the sun.

"'Many'? Not 'several'? I always thought of you to be rigid with grammar, tsk* you think you know someone."

"Mr Oum are you telling me this, while acknowledging the fact that you decided to tag yourself along to a class field trip for no apparent reason?"

"Hey, it's in my contract."

Glynda sighed, that damnable contract, the clause '_may access all areas students may go or have access too at all times without exception as long as work is maintained to a satisfactory degree and does not interfere with major school proceedings' _seemed so innocent at first.

"Besides I have my reasons, number one is that these are made killer on pancakes, and I know Souma would scramble me if I didn't bring some back."

Glynda eyed the 'some' that he mentioned, with around 20 jars still waiting to be filled. Rolling her eyes, she went back to basking.

His head snapped up, Glynda's neck prickled.

He rushed over to her as she stood scanning the surrounding area.

"Glynda, your hand!"

"Wha..

"No time, your hand now!", Glynda quickly offered up a slender hand and it was encompassed into his calloused grip, she didn't have the time to comment before it rushed through her.

Her aura made no resistance as it circulated into her body and then exploded out of her.

She didn't move… but she was still following it, her vision rushed past hundreds of trees before it came to a stop at an altitude above the trees. Beyond that she could only see Black.

Like a dreary miasma threatening to engulf the sky, it practically pulsated towards her before she identified it.

Grimm Horde.

She suddenly found herself back in front of the bullhead, Monty was talking with the Pilot who had an alarmed face and rapidly radioed in to Beacon.

Monty came before her eyes widened and she started to rush back, "The Children"

She didn't get far as a firm grip held onto her wrist, "Let go!", she struggled to get the grip to release.

"They'll be in more danger if that horde isn't stopped.", he used a gentle tone quickly quieting her.

"You think I can stop a horde?", she hissed.

"I mean yeah, but the sentence should've been 'You think _we _can stop a horde?'", Glynda might have laughed if the circumstances weren't so grimm.

"You're a Janitor!"

"A _Beacon_ Janitor, and you're Headmistress Goodwitch, the same one that practically carried her team through Grimm swarms much larger than this one in _Highschool_.", he let go of her.

"Now I'm going to perform my duties and sweep up the place over there.", he jerked a thumb towards where the vibrations in the ground were originating from.

"You're free to join me, _if_ you think old age hasn't got the best of you.", he rushed off barely allowing a trail of leaves to settle before he was out of sight.

Glynda's eyes twitched, '_old age?'_

**/_ /**

I was halfway there before a blur popped up next to me.

"Finally remembered who you're meant to be?"

She smirked pushing her spectacles up, "Don't think that I'll wait for you."

A vicious grin, "Wouldn't dream of it."

They vanished.

**/_ /**

* * *

Jett spooned in a mouthful of the red jelly.

'mhm, way too sweet'

He spooned in another.

He peered down at the students fighting with the multiple ursa nonchalantly.

Honestly it was pretty boring, still…he was told not to move until they _really_ needed help so…he helped himself to another spoon.

The group was doing alright for a bunch of new initiates, two ursa down, a solid formation and the guy with the mace looked like he had a solid grasp of the word 'leadership'.

Blondie looked out of place though…weren't beacon teams always made of four? Whatever.

It looked good right up until mohawk got suckered, wasn't even really his fault, he wasn't suited for holding a position, more hit and run tactics, a lesson for next time… if there was one.

He got suckered to chubby and longhair, mace guy got separated and the Grimm quickly filled up the gaps. It was a good one man struggle but it wasn't long before he got the wind knocked out of him.

Jett snapped off a nearby twig, wrapping it in a black aura.

Well he did his best. Jett pulled his arm back. The Grimm went forward for the kill.

A clang sounded out as the ursa were knocked back.

Huh, guess Blondie was useful after all, he was pretty good to be able to knock an ursa back, even when he wasn't using his aura properly.

Jett lowered the twig, and picked up the container of sap again.

Blondie picked up mace guy in the few seconds of time that he bought them, then they made a two man stand slowly pushing back to the main group.

There were a lot of Grimm though, he didn't see them coming out of it without losing a couple of limbs…

A rifle shot out, and then a red cannonball threw itself into the crowd, Grimm started to vanish quickly.

Jett found himself smiling.

Not bad Nikos. Guess it wasn't all hype.

Glyphs popped up as a scythe wielding little girl burst in faster than Nikos did in a flurry of petals, one with a rapier a little behind casting dust waves.

A Schnee? And isn't that the sister of that chick from the bar…

Weird world.

The grimm were pretty much reduced to fodder at that point, still it didn't take away from the sheer number of them.

So, it didn't help that the grimm realised that it was a good time to try to run to better pastures. Especially when there were a few villages nearby that were just begging to be the head of a news article.

Seemed Mace guy realised it pretty quickly as he started shouting to everyone. Everyone looked confused for a moment before…preparing themselves? But for what?

Cardin started radiating a purple aura, it sent chills to Jett before he got hit by the effects.

Jett smiled as his aura squashed out the outside influence.

Interesting.

The grimm probably thought it was interesting too as the entire horde turned around and charged back directly towards mace guy.

Fear, a handy semblance indeed.

The other students were shivering, Nikos and his teammates took it the best, and it wasn't long before the rest of them pushed through.

The grimm became fodder once more.

Jett spooned in another mouthful.

Still too sweet.

**/_ /**

* * *

""Woah…""

Yang and Blake stood at the edge of the plain in awe.

When Grimm dissipate, it is taught that there is no trace of it after it is beaten and dissipates, but that isn't entirely accurate. There are little ash like flakes that are left after they die, barely enough to draw attention and they decompose as well within a day so that eventually, there really isn't anything to be found.

Blake remembers a particularly large Grimm raid on one of the bases she visited in her earlier life. It wasn't a very fond memory but the small patches of land that were stained black that day were etched into her mind.

It was different here.

All you could see was black.

Like a disease cropped up and infected the land, poured itself onto the trees, merged itself with the air…and at the centre of it all stood two figures practically untouched.

One of them swayed…

"Easy there…", Monty held Glynda in a bridal carry as he walked to the two stunned teenagers.

"Hey Kids.", with a bright smile as if to say, 'what wonderful weather we're having', "Holding up ok?"

Blake and Yang looked at each other, Yang spoke first.

"Shouldn't…we be asking you…that question?"

"What...Oh! Hahaha", he cracked into laughter, body shaking as he roused Glynda into awakening.

"Miss…Xiao Long and Miss Blairedon? What are…", Glynda suddenly realised the position she was in.

…

"Mr Oum, could you please put me down?"

He complied.

Her legs failed.

She ended up in his arms again.

"Pouting's not a good look for you Glynda.", Monty's cheery voice chimed.

"I'm not pouting."

' ' She totally is ' ', both Blake and Yang thought.

Yang was highly tempted to whip out her scroll for a picture, but she had the strongest feeling that it would be destroyed before she got the chance…

"Sorry about the Grimm, it seems that I blundered and let a few slip past me mid-battle, I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Umm…no it wasn't just a couple beowolves and ursa…. barely more than we had to fight in initiation…can't say the same for the rest of the team though, we just breezed by because we were sent to get you guys, pretty sure they had a bigger battle than us.", Yang deduced this from the sounds.

Her uncle always did say that _'Kid, if you wanna fight the strongest anywhere, head for the place with the most amount of noise', _and her friends were making a big racket…though it was nothing compared to the sheer amount of detonations that she heard coming from here.

It was like having Ember Celica shot right next to your ear, except in this case it was far away.

"I trust they'll be able to handle it, you kids will have to fight worse things than this soon enough anyway."

That sent a shiver between their spines.

There was worse?

**/ _ /**

* * *

I laid Glynda's sleeping form in the co-pilot seat of the bullhead, gave the pilot a nod and went outside to meet the stragglers.

It was safe to say that they looked pretty roughed up. Nikos was in the best condition with only a few scratches here and there, her hair must've come loose somewhere during the fight, a lesson for next time to wear a more solid form of ponytail, although it didn't help Weiss from getting her skirt torn up.

Armour dents, bruised bodies, weapon damages, Ruby was cradling Crescent Rose as she rubbed the nicks that formed on the end of the scythe.

Still…no severe injuries that was good, I gave a tiny thankful nod to Jett as he waved and scampered off back to home.

They would mend their equipment, heal their wounds and all in all be stronger for it.

Was it enough?

I shook my head, it wasn't time for doubts like that.

I saw Cardin talk with Jaune with a look of strain, a look of regret. By the time they were done that look was gone, replaced with one of respect, solidified by a grasp of manliness.

Next came Jaune talk to his team, Nora's cheeriness broke through any awkwardness and left both her and Ren's thought's on Jaune clear.

They were teammates.

Pyrrha was next…it was tense, just for a moment before Jaune decided to man up and hug her. She was surprised at first, but it seemed like Jaune knew the perfect thing to say since she quickly returned it two-fold.

He looked my way, I shot him a thumbs up.

The First Condition? Quite simple really, he didn't really understand what I meant when I told him.

Bond with your teammates.

I pulled down my cap hoping it would cover the wide grin I was having.

They grow up so fast.

**/ _ /**

* * *

The flight back wasn't depressing, but it wasn't cheery either. Thoughts were still heavy in the air, they usually were after a heavy grimm battle, even one with no casualties.

"I'm sure glad that I at least ate some of the sap before we left, aye Ren?"

"Nora, you ate all of our sap."

"Yeah, duh because my stomach knew that we wouldn't be able to take it back with us otherwise, silly. I always told you my body was smart."

"About that actually.", the school Janitor chimed in, the passengers looked towards him in semi-rapt attention.

"I took the liberty of filling up a few jars as well, and it seems that I collected a bit over the amount that I require so it seems that I'm forced to hand them out to you."

They were paying more attention now.

"After all, it would be a shame if you worked that hard for nothing."

Grabbing an abnormally large rucksack I started handing out jars to each individual.

Ruby, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nor…..Ren, Cardin, Jaune….

By the time I was done the rucksack was half-empty.

The atmosphere cleared as the students started to engage in active conversation about the battle.

The flight back became a bit cheerier.

I suppose that the rucksack was instead half-full.

**/ _ /**

* * *

The sun was an hour away from setting on Beacon Academy.

"Are you sure you still want me to train you? You seem to understand your teammates now after all."

Jaune looked off into the distance, even without seeing his face I knew he was smiling.

"I asked you before, and I said that I didn't want to be the one to drag them down, but really? Really all I was being was selfish. I wanted to be the hero…the guy that didn't need to rely on anyone and helped everyone…but in that case there was no point in being in a team was there?"

"But I'm guessing this new outlook of yours isn't going to stop you from asking right?"

"Before, I asked you for me. Now I'm asking for them. I wanna grow stronger so I can help them grow stronger, so that we can do anything together and so that we can stick together."

He lowered his head.

"Please, teach me."

A vicious grin. "Nice Resolve! Alright the Second Condition."

Then Black.

**/ _ /**

* * *

He felt it before he saw it, like every fibre of his being was rejecting it, it was what allowed him to look in the right direction.

Black.

A mass writhing horde of darkness, quickly darkening the sky and the ground with their number.

The Grimm.

Uncountable.

It was terrifying.

His sword and shield started to fall.

Terrifying?

He snatched them out of the air.

So what?

Was his resolve to follow his dream that weak that he'd back down from a little fear?

It didn't matter how weak he felt, if he didn't stop them here and now then they would cause havoc elsewhere.

It didn't even matter if he could stop them, if he could distract them for a minute, a second, an instant, then he was sure, he was sure he would save someone.

He rushed forward to meet the swarm.

**/_ /**

* * *

To his credit the kid survived longer than he thought he would.

About a whole second longer.

Still, it was about the resolve, and he passed with flying colours.

So, as Jaune Arc was bleeding into the grass, taking his last breaths, the universe as if to spite him shifted around.

First the sky, then the ground, then even his injuries, till he realised he was sitting on nothing in the middle of nowhere. There was a darkness everywhere he looked, he found it odd that he was even able to sit up as if on solid ground and he knew he wasn't blind because he could still see himself.

"Welcome student to what I like to call 'The Plane', although you will come to affectionately call it, 'Your Worst Nightmare'."

The Janitor?

Wait a minute…

He pointed at Monty, "You put your arm through my face!"

"Yes."

…

Jaune didn't quite know what to say to that so he lowered his hand and stood.

"So, is this your semblance?"

"Eh…sort of, that's not important, what is important is your training."

"I did want to ask about that."

"and I will show you, just give me a second, you need to know some details first and trust me you'll want free information whenever you can get it. _Especially Later…"_

"What was that last part?"

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, first things first, you are unconscious."

…

"What?"

"You are unconscious on top of the Beacon Academy rooftop."

…

"So where am I right now…?"

"'The Plane', are you paying attention?"

"No, I meant if my body is on the rooftop then how come I can see and hear you here, it can't be a dream…it feels too lifelike for that."

"Correct Vomit Boy, although…a dream wouldn't be too inaccurate, the specificities of this place don't matter, what does matter is that everything you sense, everything you touch and everything you…", he hit Jaune in the chest causing him to retch, "feel will be near impossible to differentiate from reality, and in case you still don't understand what that means…"

Swords materialised and surrounded jaune rapidly.

The blades glistened.

He was pierced before he had a chance to scream.

Blood slowly trickled down his body, but before it reached the ground it disappeared along with the blades, leaving a panting pale Jaune kneeling on the ground.

"It means you can also die, or at least, come as close as possible to it…now, this is your last chance…do you still want me to **train you?"**

Jaune looked up and shivered, it was like looking at demon incarnate, the pressure was almost suffocating.

He gulped.

Then clenched his fists.

"Please, I'll take anything you throw at me without complaint."

The pressure disappeared.

"Awesome! Let's get started, and remember…"

A vicious grin.

"It's too late for regrets."

Jaune started to have several.

**/_ /**

* * *

"This chart represents all the people with hunter level capability in the whole of Remnant."

The hologram looked like the ones that he saw in class, except this time it was in his mind? It was still weird to wrap his head around that.

"You and your friends are right here.", he pointed to the bottom left corner of the chart.

"Wait no that's inaccurate.", Jaune agreed, it seemed a little harsh.

"Nikos will go a little up…Yang and Blake…. *mutter mutter*", In the end the positions of all the first years varied by a few degrees with Pyrrha leading and Jaune…. still at the bottom left, unmoved."

"Hmm, still a bit off.", Jaune became hopeful.

It shattered as soon as his icon below the charts range into a separate chart underneath and put him right underneath…was that a corgi?!

"Seem fair to you?"

"What? No of course not, isn't this a little biased?"

"Biased? How sheltered are you? Aren't you part of a Hunter Family?"

Jaune thought about this.

It was true that he didn't use the scroll network very often, and he didn't read many newspapers, or go to many libraries…the stuff he learned about the world were all in the Arc's personal book collection.

Come to think of it the only memories that he had from his childhood was the crazy antics from his sisters and constantly training his body because his parents didn't want to teach him anything.

He read comics sometimes…now that Jaune really thought about it was frankly a miracle that he managed to make it all the way to Beacon.

"Woah…"

The Janitor sighed, "I suppose that to an extent it's my fault… do you at least have a basic knowledge of grimm?"

"I mean… yeah I've been studying a bit when I'm not training…I've been meaning to ask you about that as well, that manual you gave me is kind of insane. I mean I could handle it back at home since I had a lot of free time, but now trying to juggle it with Beacon, my friends and sleep is getting really tiresome."

"Sleep?"

…

"We're getting off topic, I'll talk about a better program for you later, for now the Grimm, tell me everything you can about them, but use only a few sentences."

"Umm..Uh…ok, we… classify them into a general ten tiers, 1 being the lowest, they disintegrate once they are killed, they usually grow stronger the longer they survive and… uhh…", Jaune trailed off sheepishly.

The Janitor sighed, "Well you got the basics down, I'm guessing when you said studied you meant things like the behaviours of a beowolf."

Jaune nodded furiously.

"Well I guess we'll have to drill some knowledge into your head as well.", and with that a stack of books materialised next to Jaune. To Jaunes credit he brushed aside the fact that books were able to be made in 'The Plane' even though it was a mental landscape.

"Allow me to explain why you're so low on this list, granted, you have achieved a physical level far above your average civilian, hell some Olympic athletes would be jealous of your physique, to be honest with you, I'm surprised you managed to get through the whole training regimen I gave you for all these years without slacking off. For that I am proud, and you should be as well."

Jaune used a moment to preen, he also thought '_What's an Olympic athlete?'_

"However! You're still weaker than your average Signal graduate, now why is that?

"…They had teachers?"

*Slap*, Jaune clutched his head after getting hit by a paper fan that appeared in Monty's hand.

"Yes! But apart from that, there are three things that get built up in your average Signal student."

He held up three fingers.

"First is your physical ability, this is the part of the foundation to all great hunters, and you've built that part well."

Jaune beamed a bit, rubbing his nose.

"Don't let that inflate your ego, you're still the bottom of the barrel when it comes to strength, even at Beacon…that will take time to remedy and something that I can't really teach you."

Jaune looked confused.

"Perhaps you would understand better with an example."

A screen slowly materialised to a now "accepting of whatever happens" Jaune.

"This is a video captured about two decades ago of a hunter facing down a Leviathan."

One hunter? A Leviathan. As far as Jaune knew Leviathans were massive creatures, that could be as big as skyscrapers. It seemed like an impossible match-up especially when he saw the hunter in the video. A familiar mop of golden hair, a chiselled jaw, piercing blue eyes.

"Dad?!"

"Yes, that is indeed Nicholas Arc at a prime moment of his hunter career. Now watch."

Jaune was enraptured as he stared at his apparent father staring down an ever-closer creeping leviathan as he stood from the top of a cliff.

There was a flash, the next frame showed Nicholas in mid-air…behind the Grimm.

The Leviathan fell, a large hole visible in the middle of its head.

…

"Woah…"

"Welcome to the world of Hunter's kid, hell your dad isn't even at the peak…maybe he could've been…but hey he wouldn't have had you or your sisters, so all's well that ends well."

Jaune sat for a moment, contemplating.

It was surprising to be sure, enough to see the world in a new light but…

He clenched his fists before looking up, "What are the other two?"

Monty grinned, "The second is knowledge, a hunter's mind is just as important as their body, 9 times out of 10 will a intellectually superior hunter beat a physically superior one…then again that's only because they don't often take the direct route so make of it what you will. However, learning all you can about the world will never be a detriment.", he slapped the pile of books, "So study you shall."

Jaune groaned internally.

"The third and final foundation that every great hunter has, is their technique."

"Technique?"

"Yes, this is what separates you're average Grimm killing machine from the crème de la crème of Hunter's, and it is the main thing that I can impart on to you in our time here."

"There's the other thing, how long am I staying here?"

A vicious grin.

"As long as necessary."

…

"But doesn't that get in the way ofAGh!"

A slap resounded out as the paper fan was brandished once more.

"As long as necessary."

**/_ /**

* * *

"You use a sword and shield, your average nobody will tell you that a mecha-shift weapon with a gun modification is much more useful, and for the most part, he'd be right."

"However, there's no point in doing something you're not suited for. You're average Gun-nut has a different frame of mind from the other. Take Ruby as an example, her marksmanship skills are practically untouchable among the first years…at least if we don't consider things like aura and semblances. However, even for a whiz-kid like her it took her years to train her visual acuity to a point where she can hit a chestnut from a few kilometres…again without any outside factors."

"That's time that we don't really have...or need for that matter. Any hunter worth their salt will know that with enough effort you can get by with just your fists… and although the people who have done that and lasted longer than a year are only a fistful…pardon the pun, it's the concept that counts."

"The main thing to know is where your weaknesses are, how to overcome them, or better yet eliminate them entirely, and only leave your strengths to crush the opposition."

"Which brings us to the beginning of your training, your sword and shield, though materialised, are solid replicas, you won't feel the difference…well not until much, much later but that's not important."

"So… are you ready?

Jaune took a deep breath and unfolded his shield, "What am I learning?"

A large mass of Grimm materialised a bit of distance away from the two, Jaune was slightly alarmed until he noticed that they all seemed to be dormant, moving yet…waiting?

"Hand me your gear, the grimm are one thing but I can't recreate another one of these replicas, I'm not a god you know?"

"Pff, _Coulda fooled me…", _Jaune mumbled as he passed over the weaponry.

"What was that?", the demon glinted underneath the cap.

"Nothing!" went a fear stricken Jaune.

Monty rolled his eyes, "Alright watch closely, this will be the only technique that I'll teach you, it'll get you to the base of the mountain if you can master it, and waste any hope that you might have of getting there if you can't."

Jaune stared with close attention as his newfound teacher stood, shield and sword resting in front of him, grasped almost gently.

"It is called the Fünf-zu-Eins-Schwert Discipline, this is the first stance, Roaring Lion."

The grimm became roused and began rushing towards the two as Monty walked forward at a brisk pace, and Jaune watched as the mass of Grimm became playthings as a single figure practically danced through them.

Jaune gulped.

Could he really learn that?

**/ _ /**

* * *

'Death**'** Count**: 10**

Jaune was halfway through a page before he looked up at his teacher, currently hanging upside down reading a novel, '_The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'_.

"Hey Teach…"

"Hm?", he lowered the book, or from Jaunes angle raised it.

"I've been wondering for a while now…but why does it feel like my aura's suppressed?"

"Because it is?", he raised the book, or from Jaunes angle lowered it.

"No, I meant…why did _you_ suppress it."

The book lowered, or from Jau…..you get the picture.

The soles of his feet detached from the bar in the sky as his teacher flipped around onto the 'ground'.

"Well, if _you_ haven't figured it out yet then I don't think there's any point in explaining it."

Jaune pouted and went back to reading.

"However, for the sake of plot I suppose I'll indulge you."

'_The sake of wha_?'

"You've noticed by now that you can barely take a few beowolf hits when before you could tank an Ursa mauling you even with an efficient use of your reserves."

"Inefficient?"

"_This Training"_, his teacher pressed on, "Is to help you better manage having limited reserves, whether that be by being able to conduct your aura optimally, or at the very least, stop getting hit so often."

"If you manage to do this much", he knocked on the pole before casually walking up the vertical surface and positioning himself as he was before, only attached via his soles, book in hand.

"Then maybe you'll be able to get past 10 beowolves, aura or not.", he raised his book.

Jaune pondered this. It wasn't long before he gave up on his book and started to meditate, trying to mess with the small amount of aura that he had access to.

A small smile.

**/_ /**

* * *

'Death' Count: **100**

Jaune was craving pizza, and it wasn't just that, he was craving other things, simpler things, things like hearing his team, hearing Nora shout about being hungry while inhaling a 3 foot stack of pancakes.

Yeah, the simpler things.

He twirled the fake 'mors' around and faced the Grimm horde.

Was that a Nevermore? Teacher sure was being malicious today…

It would take out the reserves he had, but he had done more with less anyway…

What was that thing he said? Overcome your weakness, or better yet eliminate them?

Jaune grinned.

_Eagle Stance_

His swung his sword up in a smooth arc, the charged particles at the tip flinging out at high speeds.

The Nevermore disappeared.

The Grimm Charged.

He did as well.

**/ _ /**

* * *

'**Death' Count: 1000**

"Hey Teach."

"Hm?", he put '_The Thief and The Butcher' _down, well, 'up' from Jaunes angle.

"I think I got it."

"Oh, do you now?", snarked the teacher as he walked over to where Jaune was dangling, suspended by absolutely nothing. Sharper eyes would see the slim layer of aura that covered his feet.

He started kicking at Jaunes feet.

"Wait wait I don't mean thaAAT!", Jaune faceplanted into the 'ground' as his teacher hopped down to join him.

"Ugh…", Jaune rubbed at his face as he sat up, "I meant '5 to 1', damn you're always so quick to judge words."

"Honesty can be seen with initial intent, with that in mind it's only logical to derive meaning from words at face value as well."

Jaune smiled and shook his head, it wasn't the first time his teacher spouted a flawed philosophical quote, he still wasn't sure if his teacher believed what he was saying, or if it was another mental game to get Jaune thinking.

That didn't matter right now.

"Alright, you said you got it, well, let's put that to the test, shall we?"

Jaune prepared fake 'Mors'.

_Roaring Lion_

If he payed attention from the beginning, Jaune might have noticed that the Grimm Horde was significantly larger than the one that his teacher first faced off against.

Whether it was good or bad fortune, he became too desensitised to the sight of grimm to notice.

The grimm became roused once more and began rushing towards the two as Jaune walked forward at a brisk pace, and the teacher watched as the mass of Grimm became playthings as a single figure practically danced through them.

A small smile.

He really learnt it.


	11. A New Drive and Pancakes

Jaune woke to a killer headache, a dry mouth and a dark sky.

It was a different dark, he could see the stars, and as he took in his surroundings he saw even more.

He was back on the Beacon rooftop.

A hand was held out to him. "How's your head?"

He took it pulling himself off the floor. "Hurts…"

It felt odd to be back, everything seemed the same, but there was something that he wasn't noticing…

"You're lucky that's all its doing, if you were there any longer your brain would've turned to mush."

…

"_What_?"

"But hey, you've officially graduated from the 'Janitor's Training Camp of Doom', I wish I could give you something to celebrate, but I don't really have anything…"

Jaune clenched his fingers, he could think of a few things…

"Anyway, how do you fEOWWL!", his teacher was launched back after Jaunes fist hit his face at resounding speeds. He hit the wall and stopped, the bricks around him cracking underneath the impact.

Ah yes, "I feel great, all things considered.", his aura was back, it was rejuvenating, he felt the same rush that came when it was first unlocked, a few seconds before he became a splatter in initiation…

* * *

_The adrenaline rush from being thrown a kilometre, with an Arc's stubbornness finally forced his survival instincts to kick in._

_Near Death Focus._

_He angled himself to hit some of the branches that were along his flight path, disorienting him just enough to slow his fall by increments…'it wasn't enough', he thought oddly calmly…it was only then that he felt it._

_It trickled out at first, starting at his core, slowly spreading throughout his body, it was warm, he felt amazing. It was as if time had stopped, he had felt and saw every thing around him…including a spear?_

_The spear pierced his hood with startling accuracy, flinging him back into the forest._

_Time slowly began to speed up, he could almost 'feel' a tree that he was about to collide with, his aura had still not finished circulating, it would cause some injuries._

_He suddenly felt something tugging on his jacket, moving him, pulling him to the side._

_The spear buried itself into the bark._

_Jaune swinged precariously, luckily Pumpkin Pete had top quality seaming for their limited time hoodies, which kept him from plummeting._

_His newly found aura supported his upper torso, so that it didn't snap from the kinetic force that was distributed upon impact._

_It was then he felt his aura stop suddenly, it felt forceful, unwanted, a squirmy sensation reverberated through his body._

_It was a little while later that a red-headed initiate came along to pick up her spear._

_The blonde came along in a 2 for 1 deal, and it was only when she had a look to 'unlock' his aura, was it let loose again._

* * *

_Jaune fe_lt warm, he frowned.

"Did you help me during Initiation."

The Custodian held his hand up to his mouth and shuffled his jaw, his mouth turned into a grin.

"Took you long enough, kid."

Jaune looked with newfound gratitude at his 'teacher'…now half embedded in the wall.

He scratched the back of his head in a flush, "Sorry…. about…that…."

The 'victim' waved it off with nonchalance, "It's fine kid, I had it coming anyway, just think of it as one of your graduation presents", he pulled himself off and dusted the debris off his shoulders.

Jaune's face morphed to one of shock.

"I see you have questions…alright I'll indulge you, go ahead."

"Graduate?!"

"Yes, Jaune Arc, Leader of Team JNPR, and now…graduate of the Beacon Academy Janitor's Mentoring Initiative."

"But why?!"

"Yeah I know it's a mouthful…"

"No! I meant why-" "Kid."

He was silenced by his teacher putting his hand on his head.

"You did good, incredible in fact, I had no doubt that you could do what you did, but the fact that you struggled through is still amazing. This is a fact, nobody can take that away from you."

"So, believe me when I say that you didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why- "

"I'm getting there.", he stressed, "You've grown. That is always a good thing. But unfortunately you've grown out of my teachings, you've learnt what you needed to know, now it's time to learn from somewhere else."

"I can still-"

"Do you know what a waterfall does to a lake Jaune?", he removed his hand from his head and guided him to the roof edge, overlooking the sun that was just about to fall out of view.

Jaune stayed silent.

"A waterfall disturbs the waters of the lake, sometimes to an extremely large extent, do you think that this is a bad thing for the lake?"

Jaune stayed silent.

"Although the lake is disturbed, the waterfall provides fresh, new water to the lake, this helps the lake grow, if not in size then in the wonders that the lake can obtain. A whole ecosystem, it's nourishment derived from the meltwater that came from any number of distant locations."

"A still lake is a dead one, with no outside factors it quickly becomes mucky and unmoving, any wonders that it could possess made impossible."

"Jaune."

Jaune looked at the soft brown orbs that were placating his tear pricked face.

"I can't be your teacher anymore."

Jaune's vision blurred.

"But that doesn't mean that I can't teach you."

Jaune blinked.

"Hey, what's with the surprise? I never said I was going anywhere! I just said I'm not your full time teacher anymore, you already have enough great people here for that."

Jaune's knuckles clenched.

His teacher shivered, he held his hands out in surrender, "Woah, woah, woah easy, easy, at least let me finish before I get launched off the roof."

Jaune stared, then blinked, then exhaled heavily before rubbing his red tinted eyes with his sleeve, his fingers unclenched.

Placing his hand on Jaunes shoulder, he forced the boy to make direct eye contact.

"Kid, I'm the fisherman now, and I'm going to keep coming back to the lake to see what new miraculous things I can find, and occasionally I'll help it along, if it needs it, just a bit."

Jaune's wobbling lips formed an unstable grin, "You know teach… you really suck at analogies."

His teacher matched his smile as they clutched hands in understanding.

"Now… any other questions?"

With renewed vigour Jaune pulled his scroll out of his pocket.

The time only differed by an hour from when he last saw the scroll.

Any doubt about his teacher's claim about the movement of time inside 'The Plane' vanished.

"Why do you always call me kid? Aren't we close to the same agACk.", Jaune clutched his head, the culprit in the hands of his teacher.

"I thought you couldn't take things outside the plane!"

Held in his teacher's hand was the ever-familiar Paper Fan.

"I Can't."

Oh...

"Any _other_ questions?"

Jaune rubbed his comically steaming head, he thought carefully…most of his curiosity was sated while he was training, there wasn't much to be asked except…

"Have I reached it?"

The mountain his teacher always talked about, did he finally make it?

A soft smile.

"Your friends have already started climbing."

Jaune had a bright expression, "I'll reach them in one bound."

His teacher quirked his head, "You'd have to jump pretty high."

"Then I'll do it with everything I've got!", Jaune brought an arm to his chest tightly clenched.

A vicious smile. A ruffle of the blond hair.

His teacher walked towards the roof entrance, passing a puzzled Pyrrha as the last rays of sunlight hit them.

"I'll see you at the top."

Jaune watched his once teacher leave the rooftop, picking up a mop and bucket along his way.

'Beacon's Janitor…It has a good ring…'

He faced his partner.

Pyrrha was confused, even more so when she got caught in a crushing bear hug by her partner.

"I've missed you."

A confused Pyrrha blushed.

"Jaune, it's only been an hour or two."

He pulled back, still gripping her shoulders, beaming a megawatt smile.

"It seems so."

Pyrrha felt her heart flutter

"We're… having pancakes…", finally remembering the reason she came up to the roof.

"We'd better go then.", he finally released her.

When she was about to turn a hand grabbed her shoulder, Jaune looked slightly downcast as she faced him once more.

"Jaune?"

"Pyrrha I haven't been a good teammate, or a good friend for a while now, and I know I said sorry already but I want you to know that I'll do everything I can to be better from now on, and that means no more stupid-"

"Jaune."

He looked up at glittering emerald eyes, there was a smile playing upon her face.

"It's ok. I think that I speak for all of us when I say that I'm glad to have our leader back. Now come on, let's go before Nora finishes them again." She began to saunter off.

"Pyrrha."

She turned, "Yes Jaune?"

"Can I make my first order as returning leader now?"

She quirked her head. "Go ahead…"

"I want to train with you…if that's alright, I want us to be stronger together and obviously that would include Ren and No-", he paused as Pyrrha ran up to him, her eyes glittering.

'He said 'us', so cute'

Pyrrha flowed into a 'light' double palm strike, just enough to knock her team leader down.

A Mountain.

Her view of the world spun.

She ended up staring up at glittering blue eyes as Jaune held her in a bridal carry.

She was startled before her face intensified in heat.

Jaune pressed her closer.

She reached fever levels as he brought his face a couple inches away from hers.

"Not right now though, I'm starving, I'm so hungry it's like I could compete with Nora."

Pyrrha was stunned, it was a little while after, during which her blush receded a bit as Jaune _still_ carried her through the hallway, that she thought to speak.

"You said you were starving, didn't you have lunch?"

Jaune smiled at her causing butterflies to jump.

"Yeah, but that feels like forever ago."

**/ _ /**

* * *

***sizzle sizzle***

The aroma of butter was heavy as the final pancake was inspected and raised from the pan onto the towering pile that was already on a platter.

He picked the pile up and walked through the doors alongside two others with equally towering stacks towards three conjoined tables where squeezed together were the excursioners to forever fall, even Glynda Goodwitch, hell even the bullhead pilot had shown up.

Bowls of red sap, fruit punch as well as water jugs were evenly placed on the table along the whole row, everyone with plates, cups and cutlery.

Two of the chefs split off and stood at opposite ends of the table.

The temporary chef, full time Janitor spoke first.

"Thank you everybody for joining us tonight, due to an _unforeseen_ circumstance it appears that the Beacon kitchens are stocked full on red sap.", the 'guests nodded wisely, only with Glynda rolling her eyes.

"However, there was a surplus of the delicious good left over, and we for the life of us could not find a solution…Until! Your ever-wise Headmistress proposed an idea.", everyone applauded.

The ever-wise Headmistress groaned into her hand. She only mentioned that the sap may taste nice on pancakes in passing…

"That idea led us all the way here, to the first ever, Beacon Pancake Games!", a chorus of cheers, a groaning of cheers.

"Souma are you ready?"

"Always!"

"Let the games, commence!", both Souma and the Janitor began to fling pancakes with a pair of tongs.

With unreal accuracy pancakes softly plopped down onto the centre of each students plate, it was rather peaceful…until the first round ended.

Cardin made the first move, piercing into a pancake that was about to land on Jaune's plate and putting it on his own.

"Sorry Jauney Boy! Looks like you were too slow.", Cardin chuckled about to eat a piece…when his fork hit ceramic with a clatter.

"You talkin' to me?", Jaune chewed on the battered goodness, 4 pancakes successfully pilfered on his plate.

The table was stunned, was this the same Jaune Arc they knew?

"I have sister's guys…no big deal."

Another pancake flew.

The Battle commenced.

Ruby used her speed to snatch a few out of the air before Weiss halted her progress, using glyphs to bring the pancakes to her side.

Pyrrha used her polarity to catch the pancakes mid air with cutlery while Blake and Yang used cloth and projectiles to knock the pancakes off onto their own plates.

Unbeknownst to most a rage was building near the centre of the battle, a pink haired monster about to be unleashed onto the world.

The final chef placed his towering stack in front of the 'monster' as her eyes quickly turned from hearts to pancakes as she dug into the stack, practically chugging the red sap.

Lie Ren sat beside her, stealing two of the pancakes on her pile to enjoy, the only one that she allowed to commit that act.

It took a two minutes, a couple dozen pancakes, and the constant forge and breakage of friendship.

It was an odd situation.

0 pancakes were dirtied, each comfortably resting on someone's plate or in someone's stomach.

No damages to any glass or ceramic, the only real damage occurred to Cardin's pride as 80 percent of his stack was taken by one Jaune Arc.

He looked to his teammates but they either didn't notice or pretended not to.

Nora became the unofficial pancake victor by a long shot.

The unofficial loser?

Glynda's eye twitched.

Her plate sat empty

She had definitely tried to get a few, but for some odd reason her semblance had failed her each time she tried to target and bring over a pile.

Even the Bullhead pilot beside her had managed to obtain a small stack and was currently enjoying the buttered goodness.

She would have taken it from him…but it just didn't seem right.

Amidst her thoughts, Monty pulled up the empty chair beside her and sat with his own small pile of pancakes.

Glynda's eye twitched.

He expertly drizzled red sap over the pile and rubbed his hands together in gleeful preparation.

Her eye twitched further.

He cut out piece and held it with a fork, it glistened underneath the cafeteria lights.

Glynda's annoyance grew to the point where her semblance unconsciously activated, moving the fork slightly.

Glynda's eyes widened.

Monty quirked his head at the fork.

She _wanted_ those pancakes.

The pancakes wrapped in a purple glow lifted themselves off of his plate and transferred themselves onto hers, syrup included.

She smile slightly, only slightly…definitely only slightly

She was about to dig into the pilfered goods before an object glistening in her direct peripheral vision stopped her.

Turning her head, she saw the fork he was holding, glistening with sap on pancake and inch away from her mouth.

She stared, he gave a soft smile and brought the fork slightly closer.

It took her a long second of thought, she leaned forward and bit down.

It was delicious.

***Click***

She snapped her own head around, piercing gaze locating Xiao Longs scroll in hand instantly.

***Crack***

Xiao Long's scroll shattered in a purple hue, debris contained in that small aura as it was brought to Glynda.

Yang was terrified.

Monty reached underneath the table and brought out an equally sized number of pancakes and set it in front of him, drizzling the sap in the same way as before.

Glynda had an pondering look.

He offered another forkful.

It was delicious.

**/_ /**

* * *

Ozpin examined the jar in front of him. Red sap.

It was on his desk when he arrived, a note and a small sculpted piece laid on top.

The note was familiar enough.

_Dear Headmaster_

Or maybe not…no adjective this time? Then again, there wasn't a pigeon either.

_You may be wondering about the lack of adjective to your title, or the lack of avian attached to this letter._

At least he was perceptive.

_If you haven't been keeping track, this is the ninth letter that I've sent to you._

He had, the previous ones tucked underneath on of his draws…well most of them.

_This one however will be little different from the others. There is no instruction that I will ask you to follow, no event to be warned of, and no student to be helped to be admitted, you have helped enough in that regard._

_This letter, and the next final one is a courtesy._

_I'm sure you might be curious as to who I am, if you're lucky enough you might've guessed correctly, perhaps it was my fault for sending you letters in a world of advanced robotics, I just thought you might appreciate something a little more old-fashioned. _

_I'm rambling._

_First a gift of physical value, it goes well with coffee and your students worked hard to obtain it, in a manner of speaking._

_The next, a gift of abstract value, if you're still curious about my intentions, that should clear up any doubt, I trust you will know the meaning._

_Till next time._

_Sincerely, Beacon's Greatest._

Ozpin stirred, then took a sip.

He took another.

Finally, he began to examine the small piece of sculpted wood, small enough that it could fit snugly onto a chess board.

It was a chess piece. Although extremely old, it was removed after the first few variations of the game came out.

The Tower, a 'piece of chaos' as people termed it. It couldn't be destroyed, both sides could make use of it, and in some variations of the early game a third player was used to specifically control it.

It randomised the board, pawns became queens and queens became pawns at the whims of randomisation, or on some occasions, the whims of a third party.

It had been almost half a millenia since the piece was removed from the game, which left the question, how did he know that Ozpin knew of it?

Perhaps he counted on him to research about the piece…

It was no matter, more important was the meaning that was trying to be made known.

A piece that plays for both sides…

Ozpin smiled as he took another sip of the sweetened coffee.

There was a reason that the piece was removed from the board.

**/_ /**

* * *

There were a few who received a Jar that night.

An enigmatic thief and his 'sidekick'.

A 'humble' barkeep.

A 'council' of the Vale underworld.

Among others there was one that stood out.

This woman held the jar with slender pale hands, idly rubbing the tag attached to the lid.

_See you soon_

Grimm hordes could be heard howling in the background.

She smiled.

**/_ /**

* * *

**I am not a waterfall expert.**


End file.
